


THE ARGONAUTS | PJO & HOO ONESHOTS

by anmarauder



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, requests are open!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:20:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anmarauder/pseuds/anmarauder
Summary: | percy jackson and heroes of olympus mini x readersWho would you choose?The almighty son of Zeus, Jason GraceThe powerful son of Poseidon, Percy JacksonThe strong son of Ares, Frank ZhangThe mysterious son of Hades, Nico Di AngeloThe intelligent son of Hephaestus, Leo ValdezMaybe you are the one to cause a rift between Jason and Percy's friendship, by fighting for your love.Or maybe you could be the one to coax Nico into coming out of his shell.Maybe you are the one Leo comes to when he feels left out.Maybe you are the girl Percy comes to after bad dreams.Maybe you are the one Frank confesses his love for.ITS YOUR CHOICE.





	1. The Adventures of Captain Bubbles - Percy Jackson

**Author's Note:**

> requests; open / not at the moment
> 
> \- when requesting please pm me privately! requests that are written in the comments or on my message board will not be accepted!
> 
> characters;
> 
> \- literally any character from hoo or pjo. guy or girl. :)
> 
> the prompt list;
> 
> 1\. the prompt list is on the next part.
> 
> 2\. you can request anything on there or make up your own prompt and send it to me!
> 
> rules;
> 
> 1\. i have the right to decline any prompt i want too
> 
> 2\. please just be kind to me and all the other readers on here
> 
> 3\. when requesting you MUST fill out the ENTIRE request form or I will just ignore the request. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy my One-Shots. Feedback is much appreciated.
> 
> ~ anmarauder

001\. the adventures of captain bubbles

PAIRING; Percy Jackson x Reader

REQUEST; Percy and (Y/N) were dating but Hera took Percy's memory and all he remembered was (Y/N). (Y/N) kept searching with Annabeth for Percy. It was obvious to everyone but Percy that Annabeth liked him but respects his choice of him liking (Y/N), so she doesn't try to break them up and actually ships it a LOT. Percy goes through all the stuff in the book, meets (Y/N) again, regains his memory then The End.

DATE; Febuary, 11th 2019

WORD COUNT; 7603 

WARNING; lots and lots of angst, kissing, er i don't know. mentions of death-but wrongly accused? i don't know. you'll see.

A/N; i am so incredibly sorry for how long this took. you literally requested this seven months ago-more than a half of a year. i feel so so bad. so i tried extremely hard on this one in order to kind of make up for it. i hope you like it. if not i am very willing to rewrite it or change anything you want to. :)

ALSO EVERYONE PLEASE GO VOTE FOR MY STORY IT'S A HATE LOVE THING ON MSMARAUDER'S BOOK! IT'S THE GINNY BOOK ALSO KNOWN AS AWARDS AND GO TO THE LAST CHAPTER AND SCROLL DOWN TO THE SECOND SECTION AKA THE MARAUDERS SECTION AND PLEASE PLEASE VOTE!! IT WOULD MEAN SO MUCH TO ME! PLEASE, I AM ASKING FOR A FEW MINUTES OUT OF YOUR DAY TO DO SOMETHING FOR ME! 

IT'S ON THE EXTERNAL LINK!

TRAILER; in which a girl's boyfriend goes missing leaving her to pick up the clues to his disappearance. 

REQUESTED BY; GWginnyweasley

ART CREDS; Viria 

-

The girl's face was pale as she walked through the Camp. Everything looked just as she remembered it but it seemed different somehow. There were still children running around with glee splashed across their spaces along with strawberry juice dripping down their chins but the air seemed tense as if everyone was waiting for someone to ruin something. It reminded her of last Summer.

She felt her car keys bounce in the pocket of her army green cargo pants as she walked towards the Big House. Annabeth had written her demanding that she come to Camp immediately and meet with the rest of the Head Counselors. Y/N had obliged knowing Annabeth's temper, besides it wasn't like she had been planning on coming within the next month, she had already packed as she was going to leave within the next week.

A small laugh escaped Y/N's lips when she made eye contact with Clarisse and her siblings. They were currently bullying a poor child into giving her their money. The daughter of Hermes would have felt grim at the sight of the scene but after knowing Clarisse for years she didn't care anymore. But it didn't mean Y/N wouldn't try and distract her friend.

"Oi, big lump!" Y/N called, her footsteps increasing as she got closer. Clarisse spun around with a shrewd look in her eye just as she knew she would. Y/N watched her search for her next culprit before stopping at her form, a small smirk formed as she held in a laugh.

Clarrise rolled her eyes at Y/N and grumbled, "I should have known it was you." The girl walked over to Y/N and held out her hand. Y/N was slightly surprised at the gesture as she had been expecting a punch on the arm for insulting her. But Y/N shook it off and finished off the Camp's handshake with ease.

Y/N noticed Clarisse shoo her goonies away-who probably went to go mess with that poor child again-and scrutinize her face with purpose as if looking for any kind of feeling but happiness. When she found none Clarisse looked at her with a sadness that made a pit form in the bottom of her stomach. She hated it, the disgusting feeling almost as if she was going to throw up at any moment but her tummy wouldn't give her the satisfaction of doing so.

"What's wrong, La Rue." Y/N said after a while. She couldn't handle the silent but purposeful look every few seconds anymore.

"Nothing, nothing is wrong." Y/N rolled her eyes at her friend and gave Clarisse a harsh look. Surprisingly, she looked away with a guilty look. Y/N let herself start to worry after that. Clarisse was acting completely out of character which only meant one thing; something was seriously wrong. "Let's just walk a little faster. I don't want to be late for the meeting."

Y/N snorted from behind her friend, "Since when were you ever worried about being late when it didn't consist of Capture the Flag?" Clarisse didn't answer Y/N.

The rest of the walk to the Big House was silent and left Y/N restless, wanting to know what was causing Clarisse to act more sinister than usual. "So," Y/N started as the door hit from behind them, "How's everything been going with Chris?"

"Shut your trap, L/N."

"So, it's going well then." Y/N grinned and pickpocketed a pile of dramachas on a random wooden table. Clarisse didn't answer her again and instead made their presence known to the rest of the Head Counselors.

While Clarisse was making her usual ruckus, Y/N glanced around the room. Her eyes traveled around looking for a special sixteen-year-old boy named Perseus Jackson. Instead of finding him, her eyes landed on her two troublesome brothers. They were both grinning mechanically and for a split second, she was distracted by nervousness.

"Stolen anything recently, sister?" one of the twins snickered.

Y/N laughed and rolled her eyes, "Not since I learned that the phrase 'ignore it and it will go away' does not apply to being chased by a dozen cop cars."

"Wow," Y/n decided it was Travis. He was the only Stoll who had freckles over his left eyebrow bone. "Twelve cop cars, you special little thing."

"Stuff it, Trav-"

"It's Connor."

Y/N smiled sheepishly and would have apologized if she hadn't been interrupted by her dear friend Annabeth. Her stern glare pierced through Y/N leaving her more than a little shocked. It had been a while since she had been on the receiving end of Annabeth's famous death glare. Y/N bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, everyone had been acting weirdly since she got to Camp. Clarisse was looking at her like she was about to break any second, Annabeth seemed like she wanted to murder Y/N, even her brothers were even acting nicer than normal. It was weird but before Y/N could voice her thoughts, Annabeth had started the meeting.

"Chiron had given Butch and me permission to leave the Camp to greet two demigods and a supposed special surprise that is supposed to help us find P-"

"Chase!" Clarisse snapped from next to Lee Fletcher, Y/N had almost jumped out of her seat from her booming voice, "She doesn't know yet."

Y/N watched the exchange with curious eyes that quickly turned into wide, embarrassed peepers. [lol, I couldn't say eyes again bc it sounded terrible. so peepers it is-i'm not saying hues. I did that before when I was younger and never again will I use that word.] Unfortunately, it was a bit intimidating to have all of Camp Half-Blood's most powerful campers waiting to see a reaction out of Y/N. "Y/N is also in the room and would like to remind everyone of that." Y/N said, "She would also like to add that she wants to know what is going on and doesn't like gossiping."

Annabeth went silent after Y/N's comment and shared a look with Clarisse. Analyzing the situation more, Y/N realized it must be bad if no one would tell her. Suddenly, Y/N had a thought that made her entire body shiver. "Kronos isn't back, is he?"

The majority of the counselors laughed at the absurdity of the question and shook their heads making Y/N sigh in relief, but Annabeth wouldn't even break a smile which only made Y/N more worried.

When everyone calmed down, everyone except Chiron had arrived and it was quiet. Almost too quiet. No one said a word as they looked at her but she could all see the sadness in their eyes. Katie had her mouth covered until she stood up and walked over to her. It was a bit awkward since she had never been close to the girl and making Travis move only made it worse. Surprisingly, she took her hand and lead her over to sit between her and Clarisse, never once letting go of her hand. As time moved on, Y/N started to wonder if Katie had somehow developed a crush on her, but she shook the thought away after making a joke about it, "Katie, you're a nice girl and all but I don't feel that way about you."

Katie snorted and gave Y/N a light shove after letting go of her hand, "Fine, if you are that weirded out by physical contact, I won't touch you again."

Y/N grinned and relaxed, stretching her legs out in front of her before remembering the situation she was stuck in and quickly curled herself back into her original tense position. "Again, what's going on?"

Y/N looked around the room, trying to figure out who was missing. The only missing person seemed to be Percy and Chiron. But Percy wasn't supposed to be at Camp until next week. Even though she knew that fact, an uneasy feeling settled into her chest, worrying her instantly. Her gut had always been right.

"Where's Chiron?" She needed someone to answer at least one of her questions.

"He's on his way," Clarisse told her. Y/N scrunched her lips together in frustration. If Chiron was the only one allowed to give her answers then why couldn't he hurry up? The centaur had known Y/N for more than half of her life, yet he couldn't bother to think that she would be uneasy about this whole meeting-especially with everyone still looking at her with sympathetic gazes.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Y/N whispered into the silence of the room. Katie put her hand on top of hers again but didn't say anything. When Chiron finally arrived, Y/N was done waiting for an answer as her patience had completely dwindled. She stood up quickly and rushed over to Chiron with shocking ferocity. 

"What's going on? I want to know right now!" Chiron faced her, his eyes avoiding hers for a second. "Chiron please, Everyone else seems to know exactly what is going on, why isn't anyone telling me..." Realization suddenly hit Y/N, Percy had called her last Monday letting her know that he would be arriving earlier that week. She remembered the soothing sound of his voice telling her how much he missed her and couldn't wait to see her. She had made him promise that he would wait for her at the front of the Camp. Piecing all the clues together, her mind immediately went for the worst. The knowledge seemed to have struck her in the face, buried itself in the pit of her stomach, and pierced her heart as she shook her head slowly. "No...no."

"Y/N-" Chiron began but Y/N refused to hear any of it.

"NO!" She grabbed at her hair, covering her ears. "Don't you dare tell me, don't you dare say it!"

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. We don't know how it happened."

"NO! NO! NO!" She screeched at him. Connor went to grab at her arm, but she snatched it away, glaring at Chiron. "It's not true! It's not true! Tell me it's not true!"

Connor took a full step forward and caught Y/N as she fell to her knees breaking into a full cry. "It can't be true... Percy can't be dead. I don't believe you. I don't-" Y/N tried to push away but Connor wouldn't let her go-in shock of what she had interpreted.

"He's not dead, Y/N," Connor said meeting eye contact with Chiron who was also looking at Y/N with confused eyes.

Y/N looked up with a distraught look settled on her features. She studied him for a moment before shaking him with an angry scowl, "You better not be joking, Stoll or I swear to Hera I will-"

"He's not joking," Annabeth said interrupting Y/N in her trance-like state. Annabeth came over and kneeled next to Y/N who breathed out in a sigh of relief before sobbing into her shoulder. Y/N felt a surge of emotions as she cried, relief, happiness, and worry being the front-runners. She was so incredibly relieved and happy her boyfriend wasn't dead but she was scared for what was actually going on. She had a feeling it still had to do with Percy as they hadn't realized what she was crying about until later. Although, at the moment she was completely content knowing he was alive and hopefully healthy.

♆ ♆ ♆

She felt useless, completely and utterly useless. There was a sense of denial for the first few months. Y/N could only hope that Percy had moved to another country and had been too cowardly to break up with her. But even that sounded ridiculous to Y/N, she knew Percy was anything but a coward. Stupid at times maybe, but certainly not a coward. 

With a flip of her hair, Y/N tied the strands into a ponytail. She was getting ready to start some of the Summer homework that she had been assigned last week. Y/N knew most people wouldn't even look at the work that early in their break but Y/N liked to get things done early despite what everyone thought.

"Hey," Someone said from behind Y/N, she looked over her shoulder as she was placing a headphone in to see Annabeth.

"Hi."

Y/N felt the bed dip and assumed it was the girl she had seen come in earlier, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm... I don't even know, Annie. It's rather weird it's like I keep expecting him to walk in at any given moment and act like we used to but I keep having to remind myself he's not here. I just feel like there is something I should be doing about this but there is nothing. You all already sent many search parties and no one has found him. To be honest, I am starting to get worried. It's just there is a very big possibility that he could be..." Y/N took in a deep breath and tightened her hands around the comforter, "gone and that is what scares me the most." 

Annabeth nodded silently, "I know you probably don't want to hear this but I know how you feel."

"Annie, it's fine. You are best friends just because you had a crush on him when you were younger doesn't mean anything."

Annabeth looked away from Y/N. She didn't know how to break it to one of her best friends that she still had a crush on her boyfriend. She knew she was going to have to say something to her eventually but now was not the time. Especially since she thought Percy and Y/N were one of the cutest couples at Camp and she didn't want to be the person who ruined that. Annabeth knew both Y/N and Percy would agree to break up to help ease their friend's pain but she also knew it wouldn't be fair for them to be suffering by silently pinning after each other.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this serious before, Captain Bubbles." Y/N cringed at the terrible nickname, Percy had nicknamed her that after he realized that she knew how to sail and because she apparently reminded him of a pirate. She still didn't really understand the bubbles or the pirate part for that matter but Y/N just decided to roll with it. "I remember when Grover thought of the name. We had been looking for you two when we found you and Percy on the docks. I still hadn't liked you then and Grover had said something about you two would look good together." Annabeth said with a laugh, "I was pissed after that comment and had said you would be a great pirate and Grover declared your ship name would be Captain Bubbles. I don't remember how it became a nickname but."

"Oh, I thought Percy had thought of the name, but that's a rather odd way to gain a nickname."

"I know," Annabeth nodded, "But umm, Chiron said we are going to pick up some demigods later today if you are free then. It will be just me, you, and Butch."

"Butch from the Iris Cabin?" Y/N asked not looking up from her work. Annabeth nodded and stood up to leave, "What time are we going?"

"At Three, don't be late." Y/N heard the door shut behind Annabeth as she quickly jotted down 3 PM - picking up demigods on a bright pink sticky note. Pasting it in her Planner, she didn't hear Annabeth come back in quickly.

"Hey, Argus is looking for you."

"Oh! I completely forgot! Thanks, Annie."

"Where are you going?" Annabeth asked, hanging around the door for a little bit longer. She watched Y/N hurriedly grab all of her stuff and throw it into a bag. She wondered how Y/N was so level headed about the situation she was stuck in if Annabeth had been in Y/N's place she didn't know what she would have done. Annabeth knew she would certainly be a little more productive in trying to find Percy, but Annabeth also knew that Chiron had instructed Y/N not to go looking for Percy. It was a good thing Annabeth was a little pushier than Y/N. 

"I'm visiting Sally Jackson." 

♆ ♆ ♆

Y/N's fingers drummed on her thigh slowly as she waited for Sally to open the front door. She didn't quite understand why she had so much more energy than normal, she knew she shouldn't be nervous over something as stupid as visiting her Boyfriend's Mother. But she couldn't help be worried that Sally might blame Y/N for her Son's disappearance or even worse, she might not know about it yet.

At that final thought, Y/N almost turned around but decided against it when the door opened and she made eye contact with Sally Jackson. The woman looked a little bit beat up, more tired than normal but the second she saw Y/N her face lit up. She was still in her work outfit leaving Y/N to wonder if she had arrived too early. She hadn't wanted Sally to not have a break after her exhausting work.

Silently, Sally's arm lifted up to give Y/N a hug. Y/N closed the hold quickly. It felt good to be in held into a true embrace, not one that was forced out of pity or because the person felt the need too. But Y/N knew that Sally was feeling the same pain as she was which was enough to let Y/N relax into the warm hug.

"I'm so sorry, Sally. I would have come earlier-I just found out yesterday and-"

"It's alright, Y/N. Come in, I'll make some Hot Chocolate and Blue Cookies. How does that sound?"

"It sounds lovely, Mrs.Jackson. Thank you for having me."

"Now, now, what have I told you about calling me Mrs.Jackson?"

"Sorry, Sally." 

A half an hour later, Y/N was sitting on the countertop listening to Sally as she sipped on hot chocolate.

"Then, in the bath, he would move the water back and forth until it would spill over and of course, right after, he would be in a fit of giggles. Teachers told me they have never met such an energized kid before-especially such a naughty one too."

Y/N laughed into her own cup, looking at Sally with mirth in her eyes. "My younger sister is quite a handful too. She has a very bad habit of getting lost all the time. I'm pretty sure she had even gotten lost in her own school once."

Sally laughed, grabbing an oven mitt and pulling the cookies out of the oven. "How do you do that?"

"That's what I said, not to mention that she had been going there for several years now. She's in Sixth Grade at the moment, I'm a bit worried about her going into middle school. Zeus knows how lost she will get there."

"She's in her Sixth Year already? My, my does time fly by. I can't believe how old she is."

Y/N shrugged and took a sip of her Hot Cocoa before answering, "I suppose. I haven't really thought about it. She is starting to look rather like an old woman though."

Sally rolled her eyes with a laugh and placed a plate of cookies in front of her. A small smile made it's way onto Y/N's face as Deja Vu washed over her. The smell of the stupid cookies was the same scent Percy seemed to obtain whenever she hugged him. She knew she usually would have loved the smell and would secretly take in deep breaths to feel as if she were in his arms again. But instead, she felt sick to her stomach like how a small child would feel when knowing they were seconds away from getting grounded by their parents.

"I have got to use the restroom, Y/N." Sally said, "I'll be right back."

Y/N nodded and picked at her cookie, it tasted the same as always. The mouthwatering taste of chocolate overwhelmed Y/N's senses as she eyed a photo on the wall. She was rather surprised it was there. She had thought Gods weren't able to be in pictures. But she had thought wrong, there standing side by side were Poseidon and Sally. They seemed to be laughing at something and before Y/N knew it a small smile landed on her face, Sally looked completely content with Poseidon at her side. Something Y/N hadn't seen in a while, a feeling she hadn't seen on Sally's face since Percy had been back at home.

Y/N pursed her lips, it must have been hard having a child that's a demigod. But at least Sally had tried, her Mother had not. Proving her unhealthy mental state further, Y/N shrugged to herself as if she had been narrating her own story. Her unstableness only seemed to get worse as she felt as if someone was staring at her when it was only the cookies. She had two more on her plate and she was painfully brought back to memories of Percy eating two or three of them. She tapped her thumb on the counter, debating if she should eat another one. She decided too. After all, it was what Percy would have done and Y/N found that doing what he would have done lessened the pain of his absence.

♆ ♆ ♆

"Oh, shut up, doggo. You're only making this situation worse."

"I still don't get the nickname."

"Seriously?" Y/N asked in disbelief, "I've been calling you that since we were thirteen."

"I know."

"Have you ever seen Tom and Jerry?" Y/N asked sneaking a glance at him from the corner of her eye, as she steered the Chariot a little more towards the left. Judging by the look of his face, it looked like he hadn't seen the hilarious cartoon making Y/N feel a little bit of pity for the boy. But it went away soon after. Y/N started to wonder if she had been spending too much time with Clarisse. "Anyway, there's a dog named Butch in the Cartoon. When you first said your name, that's the first thing that came to mind. So now, I call you doggo or puppers. I like them both."

"Whatever, Speedy Gonzalez," Butch said sticking his tongue out at her. 

Y/N laughed, "You really are still bent out of shape from that stupid race."

"You tripped me! I should have won!"

"Now, now, puppers. Don't go all Rottweiler on me."

"Hey," Annabeth said, interrupting Butch and Y/N from their 'conversation', "We are about to land. I would appreciate it if you both would shut up and concentrate on the landing. I really don't want to die today."

"Ay Aye, Princess." Y/N said doing a mock salute. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Y/N making her turn around in pure terror before turning back to Butch, "How's my first mate doing?"

Butch rolled his eyes and nudged her in the hip, "I'll take it from here, Y/N. Go sit with Annie."

"It's Captain Bubbles to you." 

"The name's Bond, James Bond," Y/N said holding her hand out towards the stocky blonde, "I'm Sherlock's Newest Assistant. My current mission is figuring out the mysterious disappearance of Shark Doodoo."

Butch rolled his eyes, "Ignore her. She's been affected by his disappearance too."

Y/N scoffed, "I've always been like this, Doggo. that's something we should all know by now. Now onto important matters, any leads, Puppers? They seem like suitable witnesses." Y/N said eyeing the blonde and brunette respectively. 

"I'm Piper Mclean." The only girl said in the group. Y/N offered her a grin which she returned.

"Jason."

"Nice to meet you, Just Jason. Where's the third one?" Y/N asked, turning to Annabeth, "Weren't we supposed to pick up three demigods?"

"Yes, and Hedge."

Y/N felt her eyebrows raise to her hairline, Y/N hadn't seen the Saytr anywhere. Thankfully, Butch had seemed to have developed mind-reading powers overnight and had been brave enough to voice his opinion out loud. Y/N didn't like to listen to Annabeth's lectures, they bored her to death. It didn't matter how close of a friendship they had, Y/N never had the attention span to listen to 'authority', "Hedge? Are you sure? I don't see the tiny goat anywhere but I do see the other demigod."

"Now, now, you know the correct term, Doggo. Don't want Sage hearing you say that."

"For Iris' Sake, Y/N. Sage isn't my girlfriend."

"I never said she was." Y/N said with a smirk and her hands up in a surrender position. Y/N watched Butch growl under his breath, he looked close to losing it making Y/N worry a little bit. Maybe she should take down the teasing a notch.

Thankfully, it seemed Piper had also sensed the tension between Y/N and the son of Iris as she had mentioned that no one had gotten Leo, the other demigod. Thankfully, Butch had volunteered to grab him letting him cool off. Y/N followed Annabeth, Piper, and Jason into the Chariot as she listened to Jason's Point of View for the past hour. By the end, Y/N had only realized one detail from his story. He and Annabeth were going to get along very well.

"Wait," Piper said. "So, what's your name again?"

"Y/N, Y/N L/N." She said, mimicking the same extravagated James Bond impression she had done earlier. Piper nodded, her lips perking up as she took a seat next to Jason, Y/N smiled softly at them. They reminded her of her younger self and Percy. They looked so clueless but confident in each other-well, Piper did. The blonde haired boy just looked rather confused. If she didn't have a memory of anything like he did, Y/N guessed she would be acting the same, maybe even a bit worse. 

Annabeth had seemed to break a new record in somehow digging herself into an even worse mood after she found out Coach had gotten himself sucked up into the Sky. She had snapped at poor Leo many times and she glowered at anyone in her path. By the time they got back to Camp, it seemed Annabeth had yelled at everyone on the carriage for just existing. Butch had explained the Percy situation with detail and how it could possibly be affecting Annabeth. But Y/N couldn't help but wonder why Annabeth would care so much about a person she pretended to dislike half of the time, especially enough to put in a bad mood when they didn't find him. 

If anyone should be pissed off, it should be Y/N. 

Y/N's fingers tapped against the edge of the Chariot in rhythm with a song stuck in her head, it had been silent for a few minutes now. Annabeth had been extra harsh when she snapped at the curly haired boy for apparently being too loud. 

Even though Y/N hated the way Annabeth was treating everyone, she was relieved that there was finally silence throughout the carriage. She enjoyed listening to the rustling winds against her ears, it had always been relaxing to her. It reminded her of riding Blackjack with Percy. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, why hadn't they thought about using Blackjack? 

Sitting up very quickly, she saw herself grab the others' attention including a rather annoyed Annabeth. However, before she could snap at Y/N, Y/N quickly brought up her idea, "Do you think Blackjack could bring us to Percy?" 

Annabeth had almost accidentally turned the entire Chariot over in excitement. 

♆ ♆ ♆

Y/N was up in the air again. Although this time, Y/N felt her stomach turn from bubbling pits of excited nerves. According to Annabeth, they had been getting closer and closer to Percy for the past few days. Y/N didn't know if she was right, but Blackjack seemed to get more and more restless as the days passed and Y/N was hoping it was from the excitement of getting closer and closer to his "boss". It had been years since Y/N found out that Blackjack called Percy 'boss' but it was still one of the funniest things she had heard in her life. 

Annabeth and Y/N had been traveling for weeks, flying on horseback to look for the man known as Seaweed Brain. It had been rather tiring in Y/N's opinion but she knew it would be all worth it in the end. 

"Hey," Annabeth said urging her flying horse towards Blackjack, "We are almost in California." 

Y/N perked up at that, she had never been to California. She knew Annabeth used to live there before she ran away with Luke and Thalia and that a lot of monsters lived there. But at the same time, the monster may have just been in San Francisco. Y/N's jaw clenched as freezing clouds blew through her hair, at first feeling the puffy material is interesting and delightful but later on, Y/N realized it's only delightful if it's warm and if she hadn't been blowing through clouds the entire day. 

A feeling of unsettlement washed through her as her thoughts poked at her fragile feelings. They were almost in California which meant they which meant they were running out of land to search for Percy. Sometimes Y/N regretted being a hopeful person, she seemed to always be disappointed and it was starting to get depressing. 

"Stop looking so depressed, we'll find him," Annabeth promised. Y/N started to wonder if being able to read minds was a power you got when you were a child of Athena. 

"I've never been more thankful for you always being right." Annabeth laughed but it was cut short from a choke like a gasp as her flying horse started to buck and wiggle around. Annabeth hung on tight resembling a bullfighter which contrasted greatly with her very unadventurous personality. Y/N tried to move Blackjack towards Annabeth but he wouldn't budge if anything it felt like he was moving backward. Y/N didn't even know horses could fly backward, she thought only hummingbirds could do that. 

That thought was quickly lost in the abyss of her short term memory as she stared in front of her. With an increasing acceleration, a huge boat was flying towards them. Y/N felt her hands grip Blackjack's mane tighter and tighter as her heart raced in panic. If they didn't move soon, they would be squished by the giant thing. 

"Annabeth!" Y/N screamed over the whistling of the wind coming from the stupid boat. "We need to move!" 

Annabeth turned to look at the h/c haired girl and somehow managed to glare at her despite her current situation. "Shut up, L/N! Can you not see I am a little busy here?" 

Y/N rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Well, don't go haunting after me once you've died." Blackjack whinnied from under her and Y/N looked down to see them moving towards the crazy horse and Annabeth. "Blackjack, what are you doing, you crazy horse!" 

Blackjack didn't seem to like that very much and did an experimental twirl in the air as if to say, 'Watch your mouth, lady. I could very much be like my friend over there." Y/N decided to ignore Blackjack's imaginary comment and instead scooted back until she was on the edge of his hide. She was not planning on getting hit by some crazy horse or a jerking Annabeth. How was that girl still alive? Let alone the fact that she was still on the horse? Blackjack whinnied once more and nudged the horse with his nose. Y/N rolled her eyes, no wonder Blackjack choose Percy as his owner. They both acted the same, reckless but somehow lucky. 

"Annabeth, are you alright?" 

"Yes, I am fine." She said and shakily straightened out her outfit, "Maybe I should have listened to you about taking the car." 

Y/N laughed at the absurdity of Annabeth's comment, "That's what you are thinking about right now?" 

Annabeth shrugged, "That's what Percy would have said." Y/N went silent after that and looked towards the boat that seemed to be getting closer and closer as they floated. Y/N was sort of confused as to why she wasn't nervous about the boat. It was flying in the freaking sky but she didn't really care. It sort of looked familiar to her but Y/N couldn't think why it did. "Why were you so nervous about the boat?" 

"Umm, Annie, in case you haven't noticed it's flying, something boats aren't made to do." 

"It's the Argo the Second, genius." Realization washed over her like a wave crashing onto a dock, vigorously and dismayed. Annabeth and Y/N had been Iris Messaging Clarisse and Nico back and forth to keep in contact for any recent news, a week or two ago they had received some interesting news from them. Clarisse, the obvious sympathizer of the pair, [i'm being sarcastic by the way] had broken the news of the new Prophecy. It had hit Y/N hard. She didn't know if she could stand another war, another round of losing people she loved. The only good part of the situation was that it gave her hope that Percy was alive. After all, who would be a better hero to close the Doors of Death than Percy? 

However, Y/N wouldn't be joining them on the quest. Something that scared Y/N, how was she going to be able to take care of Percy when he was going to be Hermes' knows where? 

The Giant Ship slowed down next to them, giving them a good view of who was inside. Piper, Jason, and Leo were aboard the ship looking mighty pleased with themselves, especially when they made eye contact with the girls; well, Leo was. "Annabeth? Y/N L/N! Where have you been, Captain Bubbles! We've missed you!" 

"Wow, don't I feel so loved," Annabeth grumbled from beside Y/N. Blackjack seemed to want to rest immediately, he had sailed over to the deck of the ship way to quickly and had almost forced Y/N off his back due to a rather jerky landing. Leo helped her down as fast as he could, then quickly enveloped her in a hug. Y/N returned it just as tight and looked at her friend with a grin, "How's my muchacha?" 

Later on that day, Y/N found herself alone on the edge of the deck. It was near sunset time and the wind was comfortably rustling her hair, a stark contrast to the sharp wind that felt like tiny needles ripping apart your face and disheveling her hair into painful knots. 

A long sigh escaped her lips as she rested her head against the edge of the warship. She was alone for the first time in a while, Y/N had forgotten how important it was to develop this habit every day. She would escape time with Percy once and a while, usually it was more calming with him as long as he sat in silence. But that didn't happen most of the time. 

Y/N missed Percy immensely, it had been a long few months without him and now when she knew she was so near. She could hardly wait. 

Earlier that day, Jason had broken the news that they had an idea where Percy might be. So far, all of Y/N's theories were pointing positively towards Camp Jupiter. Blackjack had been flying in the direction of Camp Jupiter, thankfully they were rather close to the sight. Jason had been thrown to Camp Half-Blood with a lost memory and Y/N had a feeling Percy was having a similar experience. Which had brought on unnecessary worries, Y/N was scared that Percy might have forgotten her. She didn't want to think about what would happen if he had forgotten her. How would she be able to react to that? She knew she would try to help him remember her, but Y/N knew it wouldn't be the same-especially if he didn't love her back. 

She shivered at the pure thought of the loss of Percy's love. She knew she would be heartbroken for Hermes' knows how long. The situation would only be worse with him absent from her life, going on a life-threatening Quest. 

Instantaneously, Festus blew fire from his mouth breaking Y/N from her thoughts. She turned to look at the dragon only be in a rather awkward position with Leo. Nose to nose, Leo pulled back with a smirk, "You're a nice girl and all Y/N but I don't feel that way about you, Y/N." Y/N threw her head back in laughter, it felt good to laugh after so many depressing thoughts. "We are here, Y/N." 

Y/N's eyes widened as she took the information in slowly, she was going to see Percy after many long months. Out of excitement, Y/N stood up too suddenly and hit her head against a rather thick beam that held up a part of the sail. 

Leo cringed at the sound, shutting his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. His eyebrows scrunched together as he looked around worriedly, she was nowhere to be seen. That was until Annabeth screamed at him and picked up Y/N's limp body from the ground. 

♆ ♆ ♆

Pain.

It was the first thing she felt, the first thing Y/N seemed to have registered, and she had yet to even open her eyes. It seemed like a continuation of the last thing she remembered, but this time it was dull and widespread rather than sharp and acute.

She was on a bed, Y/N could feel it. Something warm enveloped her, most likely a blanket. There was a very muffled scraping and banging in the background, something that reminded her of Y/N's Mother's adventures in the kitchen back home. If it weren't for the dull ache in her skull and the itchiness of a bandage, she would have presumed everything that happened to be a dream.

All of this Y/N registered with her eyes still closed.

She decided to open them then, too curious to withhold it any longer. Her eyelids were heavy with exhaustion as she pried them open, despite having the feeling that a long time had passed when she was asleep. She blinked a few times to let her vision clear. She was indeed on a bed, indeed covered with the softest blanket she had ever felt. The room wasn't too large or too small. It was very cozy, however, dim sunlight poured in from the frost covered window, the rest of the light coming from a roaring fire to her right. There was a glass of water on the bedside table which she eagerly gulped down. A chair sat at the edge of the bed, a smaller blanket draped over it. Someone had been sitting with Y/N. A pair of fuzzy slippers still sat at the chair's legs.

She slowly shifted her legs to the edge, reaching to place her feet in the slippers. They were way too big for you, but they had to do. As she moved, Y/N felt her cranium constricted with what felt like bandages over her hair. The questions in her mind got louder.

Surely, she wasn't captured. If Y/N had been, she would either be dead or kept in a condition worse than death. This environment looked like something out of a movie. Above her rippled a colossal white sheet that was balancing between four wooden beams. In front of her was the crashing waves that reeked of comfortable familiarity. 

It was harder to stand up than she had thought. Her legs were wobbly, probably from disuse. How long had she been out? Y/N dragged her feet towards the door. Every step was an effort since her crown still hurt, and she had to hold her arms out to steady yourself.

Y/N was only halfway across the room when someone entered. Her heartbeat sped up as soon as it did, and she immediately knew who it was.

His raven hair was disheveled beyond belief, considering how particular he was about his hair. The shirt he had on him was wrinkled, and you knew he probably hadn't changed in days. The exhaustion on his face was almost pitiful when he turned around to face her, yet he was still a sight for sore eyes.

He gasped in surprise to not only find Y/N out of bed but mere feet away from him. He recoiled slightly at the change but immediately stepped towards her afterward, speaking before Y/N even registered his presence.

"You shouldn't be out of bed! Took us ages to get the wounds to start closing, you'll open them up again." He was next to you then. "C'mon, back to bed."

She took a sharp breath as his hand came in contact with her side, skin erupting in a burning fire. He froze too, and she knew he felt it. Y/N hadn't been near Percy in almost half a year, maybe more since she didn't know how long she had been knocked unconscious. This was the first conscious touch in a long time. And it felt magical.

His hand moved further down until it reached the small of her back. He applied slight pressure, making Y/N move closer to him. Her shaky hands found his chest, traveling upward to his shoulders and behind his neck. Percy didn't hesitate before connecting their lips.

It felt as good as the first one. No, it felt better. She couldn't help but moan out loud at the feeling of his lips lapping at her own, his tongue entering her mouth. Her fingers found his hair, tugging it in a way she knew he loved. Their bodies were flush together now. She could feel every shift in his muscles. His hands were soft against the bandages on her hair, and it reminded her of the million questions she had. Reluctantly she pulled away.

He almost whined at the loss, making Y/N smile slightly. She watched as he forced his eyes open to look into her own, and she felt her body relax into his, a familiar serenity taking over her. A feeling she had craved for so long.

"Percy," His eyes fell shut again at the sound of her voice saying his name, his forehead coming down to rest onto her shoulder. She let him hold her to himself, enjoying his touch like the drug that it was.

"What happened?" She finally whispered, hands moving over his shoulder blades, feeling them relax under her touch. He shook his head and buried himself deeper into her body, his own shaking. 

"Gods, I missed you so much," he whispered, his voice was chalky and cracking every now and then. It made Y/N nervous. What had happened to her or worse, what had happened while she was knocked out? 

"Hey now," Y/N started to stroke his back softly, "I'm here, Perce. Just calm down and then let's talk, ya?" 

His grip tightened on her before he sighed and finally let himself sink into her as he nodded. Y/N let him hold her for a while as she basked a little longer in his touch. 

The story of every event from that night onward was a shocking one. Percy had snuck Y/N onto the Argo the second with them, claiming he needed her if he was going to go the quest with them. Along the way, Y/N and Percy had somehow ended up in Tartarus and she had apparently almost died there. She had been asleep for the entire rest of the Quest, including the second Giant War. 

Percy let them bask in silence for a while, he knew it was a lot to take in-especially since she didn't remember anything. 

"I love you," Y/N whispered as she took Percy's hands in her own, she had realized it when he was gone for so long and she had been reminded of it when he whispered it into her hair creating a warmth shiver over her body when she was asleep. 

"Mmm," Percy hummed capturing her in his arms once more, "I love you so much, Captain Bubbles."


	2. Law and Order - Percy Jackson x Reader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> | College Au!   
| in which two roommates realize their feelings for each other.

i.

Staring up at the towering buildings of the main hall only intimidated you more than you already were. You gulped as you watched packs of friends roam about the campus, chattering about who they were rooming with during the overnight orientation, "Jamie said she's rooming with a guy named Matthew– I guess they don't care who stays in the same room?"

"No shit, Kyla, we're in college now. They don't give a shit what we do in our spare time."

You stifle a laugh at the passing conversation, knowing better than to assume that the school doesn't care what you do. You grimance once more at the mass of people, but pull yourself together and step into the main hall.

The inside was a lot more intimidating than the outside of the building. People of all ages huddled around in groups, overbearing parents hovered over their grown kids, various people already huddling together in packs, and younger youth were already being recruited into sororities and frats. You stuck to the walls and made your way to a long, but ever-moving line of new students who were being randomly matched with others in a room.

Your mind wandered at the thought of rooming with a stranger, even if it was just for a night it wasn't something you were particularly fond of doing. You had to do it at some point if you were to live on campus in a dorm, but even then you would be matched based on personality and living habits. The line was getting increasingly shorter and your heart was pounding harder the more you thought about the outcome of this experience, would you meet your best friend and decide to choose one another as actual roommates? Or would you have the worst experience of your life tonight?

"Name?"

A overly cheerful voice broke through your melancholy thoughts, you crack a quick smile at the older female, "Madeline L/n." You watch as she shifts through a few papers with scribbles of various names until she makes a hum of achievement, marking your name out with a black sharpie and handing you a brass key.

"Here's your key, don't lose it or the fee is $150!" She shooed you on and greeted the next person as soon as you shifted to the side. You sighed and shoved the key into your front pocket, the space being so small you were sure that it wouldn't fly out randomly.

Before you head to your room you decided that you should save the trip and collect your things from your car before going to find your room. You packed as lightly as you could, but still managed to bring a suitcase with you, full of clothes and bedsheets for the night since it was a required thing. Although as you trudged up the stairs because the elevator was broken, you were regretting being so prepared.

You hauled ass all the way to the fifth floor, losing a lung or two on the way up. Finally arriving on the fifth floor landing you took a breather, leaning against the railing and catching your breath. You hear a small chuckle beside you, passing by you from the hellaciously steep stairs you had climbed moments ago.

You managed to pick your head up long enough to see a mop of black hair bob past you and into the hall of the dormitory. You shake your head; damn athletes. You gather your bearings and forge onward down the hall to which the mop of hair went. You strolled past the doors, some open as chatter filled the hall, and others were shut and silent as the dead. Your eyes scanned the numbers, anxiously looking for three digits. 539.

The door was open and there was a deep voice mixed with a few others emanating from the room. Your heart stopped, how many roommates did you have? You step inside cautiously, rolling your luggage into the room and setting it by the door. The room was spacious and separated by another door that led to your roommate's room. There was a baren bed, a large desk, and a large window on the wall adjacent from the door.

The voices went quiet suddenly, having heard your footsteps and the wheels of your suitcase they must've realised someone else had arrived. You see a mess of curly brown locks appear from the doorway that separated the rooms, "Oh shit, it is." He said suddenly, disappearing back into the room to talk further about your sudden appearance. You raise your brows at his words, crossing your arms over your chest and taking a strong stance.

Before you could make a move to ask the boy why he said what he said, another voice sounded out, "Great job, Leonidas, gotta fuck up my experience too, huh?" You hear a smack echo through the room followed by a whine of pain. You see the boy stumble out of the room, grumbling an apology to you before he left.

The owner of the other voice you presumed, walked through the doorway only seconds after the curly one left. You sucked in a breath at the sight that blessed your eyes, his messy black hair fell over his sea green eyes, flying out of his line of sight moments later. He stood tall and lean in gray jogging pants and a white t-shirt, basketball shoes untied like he had just slipped them on. What deemed you speechless was his smile, a goofy yet charming lopsided smile that graced and enhanced his features.

"You're the person on the stairs, aren't you?" He said with a chuckle, smoothing his hair back from his face, but failing as it returned into it's messy state.

"I'm sorry?" You ask, cocking your head to the side in confusion.

He laughed and leaned back against the doorway slightly, "The person that was by the staircase catching their breath."

You merely nod, too flustered to answer him verbally. The fact that his first impression was that you were out of shape absolutely sucked, even if it was true.

"I'm Percy, " He said with a wink, "Probably the best roommate you'll ever have."

You cock a brow at his words, crossing your arms challengingly, "What makes you say that?"

He smirked and stepped closer, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Because I'm going to make sure you have the time of your life."

ii.

By the time sophomore year came around, the two of you were close to inseparable. One could almost never be seen without the other unless it was during classes you didn't have together.

Although how exactly you got to the local pizza place in town discussing Criminal Minds and Law & Order you weren't exactly sure. Somewhere between his constant whining about how hungry he was and his consistent begging, you found yourself stuffing your face with pizza while you listened to him gush about the many crime shows he watches.

"But then," He paused, taking a big bite of his slice, "Reid just like," another bite, "figured it out because he has photographic memory– which is like so fucking cool– and solved the case."

You nod along, interested in the story and the babbling boy in front of you, going on what should be his seventh tangent about each of the cases in the many episodes he'd watched. It was cute that he was so invested into these shows and even invited you to watch a few episodes with him tonight to which you gladly obliged.

You grin as he finishes off his pizza, blindly looking for another slice but finding none, "Did you eat all the pizza?" he quirked an eyebrow in your direction, a hint of a smile playing at his lips. He didn't give you time to answer as he stood from his seat, offering a hand to you, "I didn't want any anyways." He said with a chuckle and a teasing glint in his sea green eyes.

You huff at his remark, standing up with the help of his hand, "You can put away some food, that's for sure." you grumbled under your breath.

He flicked your forehead suddenly, "I don't waste food."

You laughed lightly, rubbing the sore spot as you spoke, "It's getting dark, we should get back and actually attend some of tonight's activities." You spun around to leave with him in tow, but managed to run straight into an older woman who looked far from kind.

She gasped as if she were doused in hot coffee from your run in, holding her hand to her chest and staring at you in disbelief. You fumbled to apologize, but naturally they made the incident a lot worse than it actually was. They spoke loudly for the rest of the pizza place to hear, "You teenagers think you can just push an elder out of the way?! Unbelievable, this new generation is so disrespectful!"

You bit your lip in thought of what to say. You wanted to argue back and clear things up, but that would only further her idea of generational disrespect. Not once did her purple coated lips stop moving, spouting more and more unrelated nonsense about such a simple situation.

"Ma'am, you're the one who walked into the exit door rather than the entry door. This wouldn't have happened had you simply read the sign on the door."

You shifted your eyes to an annoyed Percy who gave the lady before him a dead gaze, something that would've intimidated you had you not known how friendly the male actually was.

The lady opened her mouth again, but Percy interrupted her, "They said sorry, what more do you want? You're the only one being rude here."

She left without another word, shimmying away with a few grumbles. You gave the ebony haired boy an impressed look, "Well, well, " You teased, "You could've scared me off with that look." He snorted at this, "What look?," his face broke out in a lopsided smile as he held the door open for you.

You mimicked him the best you could which elicited a chuckle from Percy, "I don't look like that." You scoffed and bumped his shoulder with your own, "You've got a case of the resting bitch face. Or is that your courtroom face?"

You laughed loudly, making your way back down the street to campus with him. The sun was already setting, the orange and red hues highlighting the towering buildings and bathing the world around you in various shades. Your breath hitched lightly, heart picking up pace unexpectedly. He looked breathtaking to you, his messy hair was brushed away from his face and exposed his forehead, his tall nose scrunched up slightly as the cool wind blew, and his lips were turning an angry red from his constant biting. He looked like a god– way too good to be true.

He met your stare with his own, pausing his steps and gently tugging you back to him by the arm. He raised a brow at your words, taking a moment to think over what to see, "It's not, but should it be?" He genuinely seemed interested, "Or was I too scary or whatever?"

You shrugged and managed to tear your eyes away from his being, looking off at the passing cars, "No you just looked so serious, I didn't know you for a split second." You look back and flash him a small smile, but avoided prolonged eye contact in fear that your heart would hammer against your chest harder than it already was.

He let out a small giggle at this, catching you off guard. You could gain whiplash from the duality this man has. He hooked arms with you, forcing you to start walking with him and his ridiculously long strides, "Cool, Dr. Leener said that I needed a more serious look when prosecuting."

You look up at him at this, "How else would you look in a situation like that?"

He used his free arm to reach up and scratch the back of his neck shyly, "Uh I was joking about the case a little too much."

You pause at his confession, cracking up slightly, "Dude I'm honestly not even surprised."

Iii.

Dust fell from the ceiling as you carefully swung your legs over the brick wall, landing on the cement flooring of the abandoned building. You threw a glance over your shoulder and laughed when you saw Percy's long legs struggle to get a grip on the wall you just came over. You sat back, enjoying the view of his suffering a little too much.

Once he finally made it over after five grueling minutes of his lanky legs trying to get over the wall, he landed next to you with a sigh, glaring at you with a slight unknown pout. He dusted off his navy hoodie and black jeans, "I'm so glad I have such a loving and kind-hearted best friend."

You beamed at him, batting your eyelashes at him in jest, "And I'm so glad you recognize it!"

You pat yourself off, trying to rid yourself of all the dirt that covered your sweats and your 'junior squad' t-shirt. You felt hands on your back suddenly, causing you to jump and turn around too quickly, elbowing Percy in the rib accidently.

He whined and held a hand to his chest, slumping against your figure dramatically, "I've been stabbed!" He gasped, "there's been another victim!"

You shove him onto his feet, "Shut up you idiot!" You hiss, eyes scanning the barely visible room surrounding you, "Let's just hurry up and satisfy your sadistic interests before we get caught." You shuffled away from the tall boy, squinting your eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the room.

"Use your flashlight, dumbass. You aren't a cat."

The bright blue light of Percy's phone flashlight blinded you, him shining it right in your face to make a point. You swatted at his hand, causing him to drop his phone. The heavy device clattered across the cement, the flashlight facing towards the ground. He squeaked at this, carefully stepping around the space as he muttered curses towards you.

You shiver, a sudden gust of wind reminding you that winter was just around the bend and the fact that you also had not grabbed a jacket before your little adventure outside. You'd much rather be in your room, binge-watching all of your favourite shows instead of the dreaded math homework that is due tomorrow morning at eight a.m.

An audible crack echoed throughout the area followed by a dramatic gasp. Your eyes flicked towards the noise stepping carefully over until you came in contact with Percy's side, "...fuck" he whispered to himself.

Just then another source of light shone over the two of you, momentarily blinding you for the second time that night. One arm latched around Percy's, using him as a shield as the other hand came up to block the light out. You could feel Percy tense under your touch, his posture straightening a little as if he was trying to appear larger than the possible threat approaching.

"What are you kids doing here? This is a crime scene, off limits to the public until further notice," The booming voice instructed, "That includes you, Percy Jackson."

Percy seemed to chill out at the call of his name, a lopsided smirk forming on his lips, "Lieutenant Brunner! You shouldn't be out here, this is," He cocks his head to the side, " a crime scene after all."

Your jaw dropped. Lieutenant Brunner was infamous for the many cases he's solved locally and nationally, but you had thought he was out of commision due to the injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Yet here he was, obviously still solving cases despite his disability. It was actually inspiring to see someone still do what they love despite all that has happened to them in the past.

The man sighs at this, his wheelchair squeaking lightly as it pressed on toward the two of you, "Percy," he scolds, "this isn't the greatest place for dates, I thought you had class? Or did you forget that too after you stopped volunteering?"

The younger male's smirk faltered slightly at this, but he quickly recovered, "Cut me some slack, it's hard being a college student, I just wanted to blow off some steam with my favorite." He enunciated that he was talking about you by placing a hand on top of your head.

You didn't know what to make of this situation, but you thought it best to stay quiet seeing as they knew each other well. You were embarrassed to say the least, Lieutenant Brunner was a local at the cafe you worked at and he was always very nice to you and your co-workers, you really hoped he didn't recognize you here of all places.

Lieutenant Brunner sighed deeply, beginning to turn away from the pair as if he hadn't even seen you, "You both should head back to campus, I won't tell the others I saw you here. I'll just say I was simply investigating a suspicious noise, nothing more."

You nudged the tall boy's side, signalling him that this was the plan you should go with. However he didn't seem to take that into account, "But I wanted to investigate too."

You roll your eyes and nudge him a little harder this time,pleading with him, "Can we please just go?"

Percy went silent for what felt like forever, but then he moved down suddenly, picking up his phone and revealing the cracked screen. He groaned and interlaced his fingers with yours suddenly. Your heart skipped a beat as he tugged you along, walking towards the exit this time instead of scaling that godforsaken wall. He simply saluted the wheelchair bound man, "Love you, Lieutenant Brunner!"

You hissed, tugging him along and muttering swears and curses at the ebony haired boy by your side. Once you were in the clear you removed your hand from his and stopped following him, your heart still pounding at the sudden form of affection. He slowed to a stop and looked back with a lopsided smile, "At least it wasn't the authorities!"

You gave him an incredulous look, "It was Lieutenant Brunner. Did you forget who solved nearly every case you've been studying in your classes?" You bring a hand up to your forehead, still not fully believing what just happened. You got caught at an active crime scene by a notorious investigator and were just let off the hook without repercussions. What the fuck.

You locked eyes with him, walking forward and poking him with an accusatory finger, "And he knew you? Care to tell me how?"

He licked his lips and caught your finger with his hand, intertwining your fingers once more as he explained himself, "I used to volunteer at the police station when I was still in high school– well it was more like an internship, but Brunner was my mentor sort of."

He chuckled at your gobsmacked expression. He flicked your bottom lip playfully, causing you to close your mouth and threaten to hit him with your free hand. He laughed and nodded in the direction of his car, "Come on, I bet we can still catch some of the Law & Order SVU marathon if we hurry."

"I still can't believe you know the THE Lieutenant Brunner."

iv.

The warmth from the sunlight illuminating your rather spacious dorm was enough to put you back to sleep. Lately you haven't been able to get much sleep due to the many different responsibilities you had as your education progressed. But to just lie here in Percy's embrace as he tried his very best to do as you said and go over his key points for his mock trial, everything seemed to fade out.

Senior year has been hellacious for the both of you seeing as both of your studies required a lot of work from you. You've passed most of your classes and only needed to repeat a few due to not passing with the required grade level your major allowed. Percy has become the top of his class however, surpassing even his upper classmates in some of the hardest classes. He was really smart and has just the amount of charisma to sway the jury in his favour, but you didn't know how he made it this far with his hatred for studying.

He let out another groan, "This is so dumb!" He pouted and covered his face with the stack of papers in his hand, his other arm wrapped around your shoulders and shaking you slightly for emphasis. You rolled your eyes at his antics, he's such a drama queen it's ridiculous.

You lean away from him slightly, reaching for the papers hiding his face and freeing them from his grasp. You look over them quickly, focusing on the key points of the case and highlighting them with a blue highlighter from his stash of writing utensils. You elbow his side, eliciting a grunt from the overdramatic male, "Exactly how many murders can the suspect be linked to?"

He blinked, once then twice, giving you an unsure look he answered, "28..?" You purse your lips at his answer, "It's exactly 24. There were 28 victims in total." He sighed deeply, hiding his face in your shoulder and whining out that he was sort of right. You chuckled and shook your head at his actions, patting the back of his head and running your hands through his soft locks.

You decided to ask him something easier, something along the lines of vital information. You clear your throat and peer down at the papers in your hand, scanning for something a little easier for him to remember. With a sigh you ask yet another question, "What is the time span of the murders and reported sexual assault?"

He's quiet for a short moment before answering confidently, "The suspect started off with sexual assault on teenage boys in 1970 but then started killing his victims at the end of 1970." You were surprised at his detailed answer, but he left out a few important facts. You began to correct him when he surprised you once more, "The murders didn't stop until mid 1973 when he was caught dousing 14 bodies in gasoline in a rented boat by the owner."

You smile unknowingly at this. He truly was one of the best in his class and deserved every bit of recognition he got. You wondered what he could do if he fully applied himself and studied more, but the male was still hella smart and talented, it'd probably intimidate his peers if he used all of his talent at once.

"Perfect response"

His head lifted suddenly, hitting you in the jaw and causing you to jump away from him a little. He yelped and adjusted himself so he could properly assess your injury, cupping your face and sputtering apologies as he examined.

Your breathing became uneven at his touch, holding your face so close to his own. The hit didn't really hurt as much as it had shocked you, jolting you from your thoughts with a nice accompanying knock to the jaw. You snickered at his reaction, finding it cute and funny how much he worried over his accident.

He cracked a smile once he heard your stifled laughter, "Hey, I was just making sure you were okay." He defended, "But was I really spot on?!"

You nodded, eyes crinkling as you laughed at him, "Yes it was perfect" you managed to get out.

He merely chuckled at this, still cupping your face with one hand as the other held him steady in his position. But then his face dropped into a more serious one, watching you laugh as his heart gradually picked up pace. A million thoughts were running through his mind, but only one was clear to him.

He really wanted to kiss you right now.

The thought excited him. He was excited because he finally understood why his heart constantly did backflips when you smiled at him or why it broke when you were stood up by your dates. Even if he didn't like the thought of you with someone else, he couldn't pinpoint his feelings as anything more than overprotectiveness. But now he knows... and he's more scared than ever.

Scared because he could potentially ruin a great friendship and lose the best roommate he's ever had. Scared because there was the slightest chance that you didn't return the feelings and only viewed him in a platonic light. And scared because he's never felt this strongly about anyone before.

You take notice of the lack of laughter and turn your attention towards the ebony haired boy wearing a variation of his famed "courtroom" face. You pause when you notice his eyes hovering over your lips and his face getting closer with each second. You wanted so badly to close the distance, but you were afraid you were somehow misreading the situation. It was pretty obvious he wanted to do something similar to what you wanted, but there was this small part of you that stayed in denial.

When you could feel his hot breath against your lips, that's when you knew that your assumptions were right. The faint brush of his lips caused goosebumps to rush down your spine, but it was gone just as quickly as it came.

Percy stumbled back, muttering something incoherent to himself as he stood to look for his shoes. You sat in the same position, appalled and slightly hurt by his actions as it seemed he wanted to be anywhere but near you in that moment.

"I forgot I made plans with Jason and Frank later, I can't ditch them again or they'll never let me live it down," He rambled as he slipped on his shoes and snagged his keys of the side table. You sat in silence as he rushed to leave your comfortable dorm, unable to form coherent thoughts, let alone words.

The door flew open and out went a panicked Percy, mumbling a farewell before the door clicked closed.

v.

It had been more than a week since your almost kiss with Percy and ever since then he'd been avoiding you like the plague. Even when he did interact with you he would keep it short and tense, a shy barrier rising between you for the first time in forever. You would try to bring it down by asking him the usual questions, asking him if he wanted to binge any of his favourite crime shows, but he would brush you off and claim he was too busy.

It had bothered you greatly, to the point where you were forgetting small things like when your massive chemistry research paper was due. Stressed was an understatement of how you felt at the moment. The paper was due in two days and you hadn't written a single sentence down on your word document, the blank page staring you down and reminding you of your problems.

Percy wasn't much better off.

The past few days have been an argument between his mind and heart... and also Frank and Jason. He had been avoiding you ever since he realized how much he actually cared for you, more than a normal friend should. Staying over at Frank and Jason's dorm became a regular thing, only swinging by his own dorm when you were passed out on your desk to gather his things.

It hurt him to see you like this. A bad yet old habit of yours was overworking yourself because you either procrastinated until the last minute or you were determined to finish before anyone else. It took time to get you out of this habit and damn it didn't take any time for you to slip back into it.

Frank sighed for what seemed to be the 20th time in ten minutes. He gave a disappointed look to Percy who had asked to stay yet another night at their dorm room, "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

Percy shrugged, "I mean it's fine, the couch isn't that uncomfortable y'know–"

Jason rolled his eyes, interrupting with a groan, "He meant you can't keep avoiding Madeline, Percy!" The blond was a little more than fed up with the longing stares the dark haired male was throwing your way anytime you were around. It's time that Percy grow a pair and confess how he really feels about you, regardless of how you may or may not feel, he needed to get this off his chest.

Percy was quiet, fiddling with the hem of his gray Ramones t-shirt. He knew Jason was right, but it was terrifying to even think about losing you, and if he confessed he was for sure that he'd lose quite possibly the love of his life.

Frank massaged his temples in thought, "I promise you won't regret telling them, you won't lose them or anything like that." He paused, his next words holding impact, "But you might if you continue on like this."

Percy nodded, his heart lurching at the true words that slipped past Frank's lips. He checked the time on his phone, the lock screen photo of you and him covered in paint, smiling at the camera caused a small smile to spread over his tan face. He dropped his things at the door, eliciting a combined groan from each of the roommates. He spun on his heel and walked out, completely taking the others by surprise as he booked it down the stairs.

"He could've taken the elevator."

"Let him be dramatic, Frank."

It was around 1:30 am when you were startled awake by the sound of keys in the lock. You had fallen asleep in the living room once again, your laptop light illuminating the room in a low white haze. You nearly screamed once you realized that you had still yet to finish the report for Biology class tomorrow morning, but settled for a dramatic face palm.

The door clicked open, but you didn't bother on checking who it was because you knew it was your roommate coming back for something he forgot. You leaned back against the couch staying still and hoping he'd leave you alone unlike other nights where he'd move you to your bed. It was a sweet gesture, but the first couple of times it really freaked you out.

Although this time he didn't walk straight to his room like usual, instead he opted to sit next to you on the couch. He whispered your name, moving to see your face a bit better.

You squeezed your eyes shut, honestly just wanting nothing more than for him to leave you alone right now. If he even attempted to move you to your bed, you just might throw hands at his tall ass. You tensed as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to his chest and swinging your legs over his lap.

You probably shouldn't have, but you freaked out suddenly, "Nuh-uh you are not putting me to bed, I have work to do." You grumble, glaring and pushing yourself away the best you could. He blinked, "I wasn't going to," He began, "I just wanted to hold you again."

Your eyes widen slightly, "Well it's about time you acted like a best friend."

Percy lets out a silent laugh, his gaze cast downward, "I know I'm an ass."

You hummed, crossing your arms over your chest. You wanted an apology and you were going to get one. You glance at him, from the corner of your eye, "Good for you."

He pauses, running a hand through his messy waves and leaning against the armrest, "Madeline, I'm really sorry. Seriously." He watches with sad eyes as you turn away from him, rightfully upset with him. HIs shoulders slump. He really shouldn't have acted this way, he should've just taken the leap and admitted his feelings.

WIthout a reply, he parts his lips to plead once more, "Madeline I–" You yawned, shaking it off and keeping up your role. Percy cocked his head to the side, noticing how tired you look and how red your eyes have gotten from the lack of sleep. Instead of using his words, he substituted it for a chance to cuddle you close.

It was late. So late that even the group of freshmen that played around outside have decided to call it a night. Plus you were super tired and you haven't gotten a good night's sleep in a while. So when strong arms wrapped around you and pulled you into an equally comfy lap, you were more than halfway asleep. You twisted your body to mold against Percy's, "This isn't over, Perce." Slurred words leaving your lips as you melted into his embrace.

He chuckled, busying himself with tracing the outline of your features, "Whatever you say, babe." He shimmed into a more comfortable position before dozing off himself, the sweet dreams uncomparable to the moment at hand.

vii.

It was bright, a little too bright for your eyes after just waking up. "Damn", you thought to yourself, "I forgot to close the curtains again." You rub your eyes sleepily and stretch slowly with a yawn, building up the will to get up and close the curtains for a few more minutes of shut eye.

You push yourself up, but find yourself locked in a strong grasp, a groan filling the air as you tugged against the grip. You froze, slowly craning your head to see just who was holding you this saturday morning.

Dark lashes fluttered against puffy cheeks, brows knitted together as incoherent mumblings left his pouty lips. It was Percy, his hair messier than usual. You smile lightly, lying down to face him and take in all of his features. With your faces merely inches apart you were able to fully take in the beauty that is Percy Jackson.

It never occoured to you how handsome he really was. I mean, many have pointed it out and even used you to get closer to the handsome law major, but it never really hit you. So as you lay there with a fluttering heart, you got to see every detail of the man that had stolen your heart without a second thought. There was a tiny cut on his cheek from the many fights he'd gotten in back in his highschool days, a small scar above his left brow from falling off his skateboard at the age of 14, and a tiny mole just under his lower lip.

A small laugh escapes you, leaning in to brush your nose against his own. The action proved to be too much when his eyes began to open. Sleepy sea green eyes met your own accompanied by a grin, "morning" he rasps out.

The corner of your lips lifts in a smirk, a hum coming from you as you snuggle closer to his chest. HIs chest rumbles with his light laugh, "I see your attitude is gone." You bring a hand up, pinching his nipple and causing him to yelp and push you away, "Ow! Okay okay it's just dormant i guess..."

You chuckle and worm your way back into his grasp, "I've missed you." His heart skips, bringing a hand up to your face and steer it in his direction. He leans down, stopping half way to ask, "Is it cool if I... kiss you?"

It was a simple question, one that took your breath away at that. You hesitated, your brain trying and failing to come up with a response. So you did what you could.

You tug his shirt, smashing his lips to yours in a sweet and delicate kiss. His eyes grew wide, not expecting such a response, but decided to roll with it and kiss the person that had him completely whipped for the past two and a half years.

He pulled away with a giggle, "Damn that was worth the wait."

"Wait what?"


	3. The Chinese Calendar - Percy Jackson x Reader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> REQUEST; You hate him because you felt forgotten; you didn't get the credit you deserved after helping him save the world. He knows that you hate him, but doesn't know why, so he keeps bugging you to find out. You tell him and he apologizes, and you start talking, and somehow start liking/loving each other
> 
> SUMMARY; in which a girl thought a boy forgot about her after he gains new popularity.

Step One: Let him believe you are friends again.

Drumming her fingers against the wooden table, Y/N waited. She shouldn't have been too surprised at Rachel's tardiness. The Sixteen-Year-Old couldn't remember the last time her best friend had actually been on time.

Just as she was about to check her watch again, Rachel came in with a flurry of loud apologies and loose papers threatening to fall out of her arms. "It's fine," Y/N said waving the apology away, "I told you the time was fifteen minutes earlier than when I planned to arrive here. So, I wasn't waiting too long."

Rachel snorted, "You're lucky I have even agreed to listen to this. You know if you are caught with your plans and they are in any way dangerous to Percy, I could be kicked out of camp for just knowing."

"I'm not planning to kill him! Just mess with him a little, I won't even be inflicting any pain on him."

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better! Besides, I don't even have a problem with him." Rachel exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air being the usual over-dramatic person she is. She knew Rachel was lying, even it only was a minor white lie. No one could not hold a grudge towards a person after they rejected them.

Rolling her eyes and flashing Rachel a look, she grabbed her plans out and laid them in front of her. She didn't have time for her dramatics but it was still fun to tell her off. "Oh, stop being dramatic."

Rachel scoffed but she wasn't even looking at Y/N anymore, instead, she was eyeing the title with interest. She was certainly proud of it, it was completely original. In bright red ink, the title bared the name of The Chinese Calendar. "I'm the one being dramatic! You are the one basically planning someone's murder all because you didn't get credit over something that happened almost a year ago!" 

"Hey! I'm Nemesis' daughter for a reason. It's in my blood. I almost can't help it, it's just instincts. And in my defense, you would be pissed off also if you risked your life for the brat several times all for nothing. Rach, I found the Lightning Bolt, I sailed through the Sea of Monsters, I helped them get Annabeth back from the clutches of Atlas, I survived the Labyrinth, and I fought in the First Titan War. The only thing I didn't get to participate in was when they fought Luke up in Olympus! And that wasn't even my fault! Percy forced me to stay in the Hotel! He locked me in a spare room! Do you remember? It's just," Y/N sighed, sometimes she had doubts about what she had been planning. The girl knew her plan was a little extreme just because she didn't receive the credit she deserved. But she was tired of being seen as the girl who couldn't finish the entire task, the girl who chickened out last minute, the girl who couldn't run with the boy from the Great Prophecy when she couldn't didn't even have a choice. "I'm tired of watching them being idolized by everyone else when they won't even look my way anymore. Even though I did basically just as much."

Rachel was silent for a moment. Her eyes were staring holes into the label of the huge wad of paper. Y/N almost thought she wasn't going to reply until she finally looked up from the desk. From just the look in her eyes, Y/N could tell she agreed with her but something was still holding her back. "Percy still talks to you. Gods, Y/N, I've never seen him put so much effort into talking to someone as much as he does with you. You should see the look on his face every time you walk away or ignore him. He looks crushed Y/N. I think you should maybe just talk to him about it first. He probably didn't know what he did. You know how Percy is, he won't realize anything until you spell it out for him."

Y/N closed her eyes tightly, it was hard to breathe with the ever tightening of feeling coming from her chest. The feeling of guilt.

She had a feeling this would happen, she almost didn't ask Rachel to look over her plan because of the risk of her talking Y/N out of it. But she couldn't let that happen, not now, not when she had already delved into her plan. "Anyway," she said, deciding it was now or never. She had to go through with it and if Rachel didn't agree then so be it. She didn't need anyone, especially someone on Percy's side. "Let's go over it, shall we? Unless you don't want to of course."

Rachel looked a bit hesitant but eventually nodded. Her eyes held so much worry, it almost made Y/N nervous. But she didn't know why Rachel was worried, it wasn't like she was the one performing the plan.

-

Surprisingly enough, Rachel had some great ideas and had even offered advice on how to trick him into believing her. After getting Rachel's approval of the plan, she had gone to one of her siblings to double check. She loved Rachel but the girl was too virtuous for her own good. She had a feeling that Rachel would willingly lie to get her plan to fail.

Thankfully, Monica had dutifully agreed with her entire plan and hadn't even asked a question on who she was planning revenge on. She shouldn't have been too surprised though. Monica wasn't one to delve into someone's business.

After the plan had been fool-proofed down to the very date she estimated Y/N would be finished with the last task, Y/N felt relieved. It was like she could breathe again. The worst part was over, now she could relax.

The girl sighed contently, her feet kicking a rock as the air around her got chilly. Summer was creeping up on the campers slower than she would have normally liked. But today, she was thankful for the sharp spikes of the freezing wind felt refreshing on her face. Her face felt unusually flushed, she had a feeling it was from the adrenaline from knowing that she would be starting her plan.

"Y/N!" she distantly heard a voice behind her call but not quite registering it. However, the next time she heard the call of her name she saw a girl that she recognized was frequently around Piper. Turning around fully, she stopped in her step and waited for the girl to catch up to her.

"Hey, Lacy. What's up?"

"There's a fight going on." She closed her eyes momentarily, cursing on the inside. Nemesis' Scales, why was there always a fight going on when she was busy?

"Why?"

A knowing look crossed her features as she rolled her eyes, "Patrick," she paused at Y/N's change of facial expressions, "Yes, your brother. Patrick tried to attack Clarisse, again."

"He's going to get himself killed by Clarisse, not even monsters! That boy drives me crazy." Y/N sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Where are all the other Camp Counselors?"

"They're trying to get everyone to leave but no one seems to remember that Patrick is fighting Clarisse and that she's twice the size of him."

Lacy took off in a run and Y/N followed her towards the Arena.

Everyone in the Nemesis Cabin knew revenge was a dish best served cold, the saying had originated from their very own Mother. But instead of following in his Mother's footsteps, Patrick, the idiot, had decided that taking on Clarisse would be a good start to his plan in order to finally get his own retribution.

As the Head of the Nemesis Cabin, one of the regulations on keeping the position was breaking up unnecessary fights. With a sigh, Y/N headed over to the center of the crowd with confident and calculated steps, making sure to give plenty of space between herself and Clarisse. No one wanted to trespass Clarisse's personal space when she was in a fight. That was just signing off their death contract.

The crowd seemed to part for Y/N, as if everyone thought Y/N was going to take over Patrick's pathetic excuse for a fight. It seemed that was what Clarisse hoped for that too as she looked over at the girl while her boot slowly crushed Patrick's chest.

"Well, well, well, if isn't Senior L/N." Clarisse mocked her bandana swinging in the air as she looked down on Y/N's little brother, "Is your big sister coming to save you, baby Patrick?"

Y/n rolled her eyes and sighed, she didn't have time for this. She was already late to her class and she knew Will wasn't one to go easy on her. She supposed she deserved it though. Plus, there was also the fact that she needed to mentally prepare herself for tomorrow.

"Grow up, Clarisse," Y/N snarked, "It's about time for you to actually mature. By Nemesis, act your age."

"Well hello to you too, Jesus."

With a quirked eyebrow, she stared at the older girl quizzically questioning what was actually going on in her mind. "I'm sorry, what?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes and scrunched up her nose as if someone had just placed dung under it, "Now you're wasting my time, L/N. I was just implying how goody-goody you are." [ a/n; do you guys get it or no? haha, i thought it was creative but probably not... ]

Staring at her for a few seconds as if to question her sanity, Y/N sighed and placed her hands on her hips, "Just let my brother go. Do you really want Kitchen Duty, again?"

Surprisingly, Clarisse lessened her hold on Patrick just enough for him to swipe at the back of her knee. Clarisse was sent tumbling down and Patrick quickly pressed his blade to her throat, "Ha! How does it feel to get your ass kicked by a thirteen-year-old?"

"Patrick! No!" Y/N shouted, running towards him before getting held back an invisible force. She looked behind her to see the last person she wanted here behind her. Percy Jackson smiled at her reassuringly, and went to loosen his grip on her shirt when she started to thrash around. She couldn't let this of all things ruin her plan. She had spent the entire school year on this, but how was she supposed to pretend when her brother was about to be crushed by Clarisse? Everyone knew how quickly Y/N would fall into the grips of anxiety when a loved one was hurt. Hell, Percy had witnessed it first hand.

The horrible memory must have triggered her anxiety as she only started to flail about more. Attempting to wrestle out of his grip, she growled as he gripped her shoulder with his other hand. "Wow, wow, wow, calm down, tiny nightmare."

Rolling her eyes at the smirking boy in front of her, she hit him in the gut causing him to back away from her with a belch. "I told you not to call me that, Jackson." She had a feeling that Step One was going to be a little harder than she had anticipated.

Clarisse was now turned towards her with her boot resting on top of Patrick's chest again. She wondered how she had gotten him held down so quickly, especially since she had only been talking to Percy for a few seconds. Her heart hammered in her chest as she ran towards Clarisse blindly.

Y/N hadn't been a chosen demi-god, one who had their very own weapon. She liked to be able to use anything and turn it into a weapon. The item could be a blade of grass to a mascara wand and she could figure out a way to injure her opponent with it.

Her original plan had been to just tackle Clarisse down to the floor, but it seemed Clarisse had also become aware of her presence-something Y/N hadn't considered. Just as she was about to jump, she somehow stopped herself. Everyone knew by now, Clarisse's electric spear could stop traffic.

She slid on the floor and grabbed a rather pointy rock. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than dust. However, before she could do any damage, a piercing scream hit her ears. The second the sound hit her ears she wanted to throw up. The sound was nauseating, but the worst part was the familiarity of the scream.

Spinning around so quickly Y/N had to shake off any dizziness she felt. Her mind was in a flurry coming up with the worst case scenarios, but none of them could have prepared them for this. Clarisse's spear was stuck in Patrick's leg.

She was falling. Arms picked her up. Chiron was shouting. Someone was guiding her towards the infirmary. She was trembling. Dust was picking up with each step. People were staring. Patrick was screaming.

-

It was weird how sometimes everything would melt into a blur. How memories would melt together until it would all become one, or how Y/N would catch herself walking and end up somewhere when she didn't even know how she had gotten there.

"He'll be alright," Will said from next to her, she almost jumped. Y/N had forgotten he was there. "You should be thankful Percy was there, otherwise I don't think Patrick would still have his leg." 

Y/N nodded, her heart was still hammering and the guilt was getting stronger every second. How was she supposed to keep a level head and continue on with her plan even though she knew she owed him he sanity. Y/N didn't want to know what would happen to her if she had to watch her brother suffer through the loss of a leg.

"Percy wants to talk to you, by the way. I'll let him in once you're ready." Will said as he stood up to leave. He still had some of Patrick's blood on his clothes. He knew Y/N wouldn't answer. The poor girl had been staring blankly for the past four hours.

"I'm ready," Y/N said once she heard the door squeak open, her head turned towards Will. He was more surprised to see her eyes looking at him than hearing him talk to her. "You can let him in if you change. Blood isn't a good look for you."

It was silent for a little bit, both of them just staring at each other, trying to gauge what the other's next move was. It was only when a hint of a smirk landed on Y/N's features that Will knew it was okay to laugh and boy he did. If only it wasn't a nervous laugh.

-

She heard him before she saw him. Percy looked exhausted, his hair was disheveled and his eyes were lidded. His yawn only further proved it. Somehow that didn't stop him from being an ass.

He sat down next to her, clumsily. The boy was not nimble whatsoever, the one flaw she could

"Thank you," Y/N said quietly, her fingers were playing with a necklace wound around her neck, "I don't know what I would have done if Patrick would have lost his leg."

She felt Percy's gaze on her but didn't move her gaze from a girl and a boy playing tag. She wanted to continue, to really show how thankful she was but the stubborn part of her was stopping herself from saying anymore.

"So this is all I have to do for you to talk to me? I just have to save your little brother." Percy scoffed and shook his head. Y/N decided it might be a good idea to meet his gaze. "Good to know. I'll keep that in mind."

However, the second he looked at her Y/N turned away. Her heart was beating too fast, everything was just too fast. Her plan was going to fail. How was she going to be able to continue on when she owed him so much? All that time wasted planning revenge she didn't even get to start. It was almost making her mad, the fact that he had the ability to change her mind in a second. Her brother couldn't even succeed in that department. What gave him the right to be able to do that? Nemesis, she had never wanted to hit more than now. "Don't thank me either. Poseidon knows how many times you have saved me. It's only right for me to repay you somehow."

She felt like she had been slapped in the face, as if someone had chosen a cruel way to get her out of a daydream. Her Father used to have moments like these, were reality struck him all at once. It seemed the gene had been passed down to her. She could continue on with her plan. Afterall, a leg can't even compare to a life. Can it?

She felt kind of guilty continuing on with her plan at a time like this. Especially, deciding to start her first step, but she didn't know if she would ever be able to have this oppurtunity with him again. Percy was slowly opening up and becoming emotional. What better way to build a 'new friendship' than sympathizing with him and maybe asking for a new start. But that was only if she was feeling risky.

"You finally got tired of it, didn't you?"

Percy looked up shocked, he looked like he was trying to guage what she was thinking at the moment but she didn't give him the time of day. She couldn't not when she could easily give in and spill her secrets. Rachel had sugested that, but that only fueled her fire. The need to prove Rachel wrong was more important that her morals at the moment.

In fact the way he was looking at her was irritating. Almost like ants were crawling all over her body but there was nothing she could do to swat them.

"Got tired of what?"

"Got tired of me ignoring you."

Percy shrugged, "I think I was just shocked that you actually talked to me and not in a condescending way."

Y/N tried to keep her giggles inside, but they managed to get out somehow. She knew she shouldn't have started laughing. It was just one of those situations, like a funeral or a test where you knew you shouldn't be laughing, but she couldn't help it. Percy started to laugh too which only made her laugh harder. She was rather confused on what they were even laughing at in the first place. His comment was more sad than funny.

Once they finally calmed down, and Y/N was breathing evenly enough to speak, she spoke. "Why were you laughing?"

"I can't help it, your laugh is so contagious. Even your smile is, you smile with your eyes and it's hard not to smile back."

Looking at him weirdly, she wondered what the hell he was babbling on about. But it seemed Percy didn't know either as he resembled a putter fish about to blow. She didn't have the heart to ask him what he meant. Y/N didn't want to make his ears redder than they already were, she had her fair share of experiences with Valdez. Flirting and blushing didn't mix well with the poor boy.

"Umm, thanks." She saw Percy nod in her peripheral vision, but his posture was too stiff to be comfortable while nodding. She was surprised he didn't pull a muscle when he moved his head. Looking back on it, Y/N almost wished he did, then maybe her plan would have actually succeeded.

"I'm sorry."

"About what?" he asked, he was looking where she had been earlier. The two children had changed games and were now playing leapfrog.

She sighed, this was a lot harder than she had thought. How could she apologize for something, when she didn't even know what she had done wrong. "For everything, I shouldn't have treated you that way, especially after all we had experienced together."

"It's alright. I suppose I understand. Annie had put it in perspective for me."

He was such an idiot.

The apology had been going so well. Then he had to mention her. Y/N had liked Annabeth Chase before the incident, in fact they had been good friends. But then she just had to start rubbing it in Y/N's face, about how she had 'chickened out' and how she just couldn't keep up with the rest of them. It boiled Y/N's blood to no end.

Taking in a deep breath, she attempted to calm herself down. Y/N couldn't lose her temper now. Not when she was so ready to start her plan. "That's good." Y/N choked out, her voice sounded hoarse and Y/N was praying that Percy didn't notice.

She felt her nails dug into her palms as she tried to think of what to say to make this situation better. She opened her mouth right when Percy did, causing them both to start chuckling awkwardly.

"You go first," Percy said with a gesture.

Y/N shook her head, she did not want to go first. It was like confessing your secret crush to the person you liked, it could go both ways. You could either get rejected or be in a relationship with the person you want to be with. But instead, Y/N was only risking her pride and her whole entire plan all in one question. She felt that this was more nerve racking than any other kind of rejection. "Fine, I'll go first." She said when Percy shook his own and refused to speak. She breathed a shaky sigh and closed her eyes, Percy could finally see how nervous she was and Y/N realized that she was in fact scared. "I don't know if this is moving too fast. But do you... Do you maybe want to try our friendship again? It's just a suggestion, but I'd really love it if you'd consider it and you don't have to answer now. Take as many days as you want to think it over."

Percy started to laugh and Y/N's heart sunk. Nemesis, she really was acting like a twelve year old with a crush. She pursed her lips and turned around so Percy couldn't see her tears of frustration. Her face felt hot of embarrassment. She had never wanted to cringe at herself more in her entire life. "You know, just because you think the idea is ridiculous doesn't mean you have to laugh." She shut her eyes again, but regretted it a few seconds later when she felt the tears she had been trying so hard to hold in fell. All that time wasted planning for something that didn't even get past Step One.

"Wait, no," Percy said and raised his hand to put around her shoulder when he heard her sniff and hastily wipe her face. Percy was alarmed. He knew first hand how hard it was to make Y/N cry, but here she was crying over a rejection that Percy didn't even mean to make. "Y/N, I would love to try to be friends with you again. I was laughing because I was going to ask you the same thing."

Y/N turned around and gave him the dirtiest look she had ever given him (and there's been a lot of dirty looks). "Nemesis, you are so annoying, fish poop."

"Fish poop? That's a new one." Percy nudged her with his elbow and scooted closer to her, "Come here, I haven't hung out with you in forever and you haven't experienced my improvement in hugging."

Y/N snorted, reminiscing the memory. Percy and her had been young, around 12 or 13 and they had just escaped the Cyclops when Percy had hugged her. He had always been a good hugger, but Y/N had refused to admit it at the time and still liked to tease him about it.

Shaking her head, she laughed, "I still can't believe you hugged me then got blasted off the cliff by a Cyclops. I thought you were dead and felt way too guilty about those words being the last words I ever said to you."

"Ya, what the hell was that, tiny nightmare! I finally build up the courage to hug you and you reject me." Percy clicked his tongue at the girl and brought her closer with one arm while he poked her in the stomach with the other. Y/N squirmed at the contact but then rolled her eyes and rested her head on Percy's shoulder. She could almost hear Rachel's taunting voice in her head, teasing her about how she should have just talked to him about what she felt. But it was too late now, she had to continue on even though she almost didn't want too.

-

Step Two: Make him trust you.

Fridays were at Camp were scary. Everyone was always watching their backs for some Ares kid gone rogue or an Athena child deciding that 'you' are somehow the reason why their plan isn't working.

After a rather interesting accident between an Ares kid [ it's always them, isn't it? ] and one of Y/N's siblings, she had taken refuge in the Iris Cabin. Rachel was staying there for the Summer as Chiron had finally given into Dionysus' wishes and had asked some Hephaestus and Aphrodite kids to help rebuild and decorate the Big House. But Y/N secretly really enjoyed the Iris Cabin, it was much brighter and prettier than her own cabin. Plus, there were less threats being thrown around and-as selfish as this sounded-Patrick wasn't around to whine about her not playing with him.

Knocking on the door, she waited for a quick second before pressing her ear against the wood. It was better to be safe than sorry, right? Afterall, this was a camp full of horny teenagers with beds. How did no one else see that this was a bad idea?

"Y/N?" She heard someone behind her. She felt her face heat up rapidly, how was she going to dodge questions about this? It was such an awkward situation to be in, yet alone converse about it.

It's not like they wouldn't ask questions either, they were bound to be confused. Groaning on the inside, she reluctantly turned.

"Do I even want to know what you were doing?" Percy asked, she was surprised to hear the amused tone in his voice.

Y/N almost scowled before she felt her face get warmer as she shook her head. No way in hell would she tell Percy Jackson what she was doing. Sure, they may be 'friends' but that didn't mean she liked him.

The porch situation had just been a moment of weakness, but it didn't help her conscience any less. Y/N had been worrying about it all night, but she had convinced herself that she had just been in a weak emotional state and had taken in any comfort she could.

Because it wasn't like she could actually like him?

She almost laughed at the thought. "What do you need?"

"What am I not aloud to see my new-no, not new. What the hell is our friendship even called?"

Y/N snorted, "If only you knew."

"What?"

"Nothing," she said with a shake of her head, "I know you well enough, kelp head. What is it that you need?"

"I heard that the Nemesis cabin is partnered up with Poseidons' for Capture the Flag and was wondering if you wanted to help spy on the Athena Cabin with me?"

Turning back to the Iris Cabin longingly, she wondered how much longer she needed for her plan to work. She didn't know how much longer she could stand Percy's presence.

She was about to reject him when an image of Annabeth and Percy kissing in the labyrinth popped into her head and suddenly she was nodding vigorously.

Percy grinned, blindingly and suddenly her actions hit her all at once. She needed to stop these stupid, thoughtless decisions. It was going to ruin her plan and all that hard work could not go to waste because some emotions got in the way.

She had already screwed up in the infirmary, she was just lucky it turned out alright.

"So," Percy said as he threw an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. She prayed to Nemesis that Percy couldn't hear her heartbeat where he was because it was too loud for her comfort. "Does tiny nightmare, have a plan for tonight?"

"Yes, she does. Hiding inside the Iris Cabin with Rachel and praying to the Gods that no Ares kid finds them."

Percy guffawed, then realized she wasn't joking and stared at her for a few seconds, "Wait, have you been playing in the last few games?"

Y/N shook her head, "No, I stopped after the war."

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and turned forwards. It felt weird not feeling the comforting presence on her side, but she didn't know why. She hadn't been within a three foot radius of him since last year, yet after a few minutes the distance felt weird.

"You shouldn't let fear control your life." Percy looked so uncharacteristically serious, she almost forgot it was him talking.

"Oh,Yeah? When did you become so prophetic, kelp head?" 

-

She had forgotten how boring Capture the Flag could be. The Nemesis Cabin had lost the coin toss between the Apollo Cabin and now Y/N and her siblings were stuck guarding the flag along with some other cabins.

She really regretted coming out tonight.

Percy had forgotten about her the second he called their team in for planning. She was bitterly reminded of yesteryear.

Covering her eyes from the sun, she tried to blink away the green glare. She was still in shock of what had happened earlier. How could she have been so stupid? She had warmed up to Percy and obviously there were consequences.

Y/N was surprised at herself. She had forgotten about one little knot in her plan.

Y/N still cared for Percy.

It was weird how she hadn't considered it before. She supposed she had been so blinded by anger the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

But it still didn't make the situation any better. Now she was going to have to work extra hard to make her plan work. Y/N was going to make herself hate him. But she didn't know how.

How do you hate someone you still care about?

Almost laughing out loud at herself, she shook her head. Why was she even continuing on with the plan in the first place?

'Just because you care about him doesn't mean he cares about you,' a little voice in her head said. 'Wasn't he the one who left you behind? If he cared about you he wouldn't leave you. But look where he is now, not with you.'

"Y/N?" A hand waved in front of her face, she groaned and shook her head. Everything was so blurry and along with that she had a major headache. She turned her head to see a Hypnos kid, she distantly remembered him as Clovis. "Hey, you fell asleep. You are a heavy sleeper. I'm surprised you didn't wake up from the screams and shouts from the Blue team. I can't even sleep through that and that's saying something."

They won. Oh nemesis, and Y/N had slept through it. How had she slept through it?

Clovis asked her something else, but she only nodded. Y/N needed to find Rachel. Rachel was surprisingly good at remembering her dreams and she was hoping that maybe she could help her remember hers.

"Ya, ya, thanks Clovis." She said while getting up, "I gotta go, right now. But I'll see you later, ya?"

Running towards the pavilion, she dodged campers heading to either their cabins or their daily activities. She sighed impatiently as two girls in front of her walked exceptionally slow, they were talking about something ridiculous that she would have laughed at if she didn't want to find Rachel.

"Y/N! Hey! Y/N!" Turning around, she saw Patrick run up to her with the biggest grin she had ever seen. He had the flag wrapped around his shoulders which could only mean one thing. "Where were you? Did you hear? I can't believe I did that. I kicked Clarisse's butt! You should have seen her face! It was the funniest thing I had ever seen."

Y/N felt herself unconsciously smile as he went on and on about how he heroically saved the Blue Team from losing. After hearing for the third time how he snatched the flag from right under Clarisse's nose, her mind started to wonder. She saw Lacy talking with on Patrick's friends, two naiads bickering over who's trees were cleaner, but then she spotted Percy receiving pats on the backs from other boys.

If it were any other situation Y/N wouldn't have cared. But it was the way they were all acting, it reminded her way too much of the day after the war. The day Y/N's life flipped upside down.

Pretending to listen to Patrick about whatever he was babbling on about now, she caught a bit of their conversation as they walked past.

He hadn't even noticed her, again.

"Bro, that was such a good save."

Percy laughed, "Calling everyone bro isn't going to pick up chicks."

"Shut the hell up, man. Why'd you give all that credit to that kid. He didn't do anything, just grabbed the flag and ran it back."

Y/N's breath hitched, she felt like she had just been slapped in the face. Her stomach was in her mouth and everything was blurred together like some kind of painting, except the brush strokes were all wrong. Everything about the painting was wrong.

"Y/N," she heard her brother call, but he sounded further away as if she was stuck in a fish tank and he was on the other side. "Y/N, are you alright?"

A whimper left her mouth, not again. The flashbacks couldn't start again. She needed to sit down.

Twirling around, she ran into people as she searched frantically for ground that wasn't covered with people. Everything was just happening too fast. People were calling her name or yelling when she bumped into them. She swore she heard Percy call her name worriedly, but that to have been just her imagination.

Finally finding a grassy area where no people were, she fell onto her knees on it. Panting on her hands and feet, she gasped for air. She felt as if she was going to throw up but she couldn't, she wasn't. Y/N wasn't sick.

Gripping the grass between her hands, she tried to calm herself down. She took in deep breaths and focused on the feeling on the dirt and grass on her skin, the sun warming her up.

After repeating those steps a few times, she finally confident enough to sit against the tree trunk next to her without throwing up. But when she tried to move, she felt a hand holding up her hair and another hand steadily stroking her back. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and almost kicked the person behind her in self defense. But then she realized that a monster couldn't get in the border and most certainly, would not be trying to calm her down.

Turning around, she saw Percy kneeling down next to her. The second she saw him she almost jumped away. The sick feeling was back again.

"Are you alright?"

Staring at him in disgust for a few moments, she wondered how he lived with himself. How could he be so selfish to willingly take people's credit? Nemesis, she needed to get away from him. His presence was making her skin crawl.

But she couldn't say anything now, not when her plan was going to well.

"What's wrong?"

Gods, she was done with the plan. She was done with him. Y/N just wanted it to be over and to never have to see him again. "I hate you."

"What?"

"You heard me. I hate you and I want you to get away from me right now."

Percy was silent for longer than she had thought. Rolling her eyes, she pushed him away. "It shouldn't take you that long to process it. I've told you many times before."

"But-"

"Nuh, uh, uh," she shook a finger at him, "No buts. Just go away and leave me alone."

"Wait, but Y/N-"

"Did you not hear me before? I want you to leave." When he didn't leave, she sighed dramatically and tried to calm her shaking fingers. If he didn't leave in a few seconds she was going to start crying and she was not going to cry in front of him. "Nemesis, you're like an annoying fly that I can't shoo away."

Percy almost laughed but looked so hurt it didn't even sound like one. Guilt climbed up into her throat and started to choke her.

Then he left. Just like that, within a blink of an eye he got up and started to walk away.

-

Step Three: Give him what he deserves.

Y/N had a weird choice of music. She liked to listen to any song-as long as there was the sound of rain in the background. It didn't matter if it was actually raining and she decided to open her window ( no matter how much her siblings complained ) or it was playing on her phone.

It was actually weird how any song could go with the sound of rain. Y/N could be listening to Classical Music to 80s Alternative to Hard Metal Rock, but somehow it all just flowed.

Giggling to herself, she turned around in her bed and attempted to fall asleep again. Y/N had gone to bed early that night. She had accidentally fell asleep crying around 5, missing dinner in the process but feeling better than she had in awhile. It was like a load of stress had just melted off her shoulders.

Patrick was sleeping next to her. They had moved their beds beside each other when he hurt his leg. Y/N remembered doing it when they were younger, before they had known they were demigods, when things were more simple. Patrick would sometimes sneak into her bed late at night. He would try to be as quiet and graceful as he could, but he somehow would always wake her up. Sometimes they would play cards under the candles Y/N bought and placed around her room during her witch phase.

However, for the past week, it had been Y/N initiating their sleeping circumstances.

Y/N had made an excuse about her being worried about her little brother being injured, but she had a feeling Patrick knew the truth. Afterall, the entire Camp had heard about what had gone down between Y/N and Percy.

The girl sighed and turned back around, she could not find a comfortable sleeping position for the life of her. It got to the point where she had moved so much that Patrick had complained and Y/N had forced herself to stay still even though she could feel her arm going numb.

However, it seemed that whenever she felt like she was about to fall asleep, a noise outside would wake her up. The first time, it had been someone talking too loudly with someone else. She wondered how the furies didn't catch them.

The second time, it was someone cursing followed by something heavy falling in a bush. Sitting up, she popped her ears popping that would somehow improve her hearing.

Allegedly, it didn't and Y/N was left with wondering who would be trying to climb up the Nemesis Cabin. She debated waking Patrick up, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. He would probably only run around and wake up other campers which would only make Chiron or Dionysus mad.

Still debating in her head, she moved her head back and forth before finally getting up with a whimper. She did not want to die today. Y/N felt like she was in some murder mystery, but she was the dumbass who died first going to check out the murderer.

Her room was dark. Splaying her hands out in front of her, she walked towards her window like a zombie. She heard her heartbeat ram against her chest in distress as she glanced back at Patrick. Maybe she should have woken him up.

Shaking her head but stopping in her steps anyway; she wondered how she was going to get back without falling-especially if there was a killer on the loose.

A banging on the window brought her out of her thoughts. Freezing in her steps, she looked back at Patrick again. This was ridiculous. She was a demi-god, for Pete's sake. Not just a demi-god, but Nemesis' daughter at that.

When Y/N was a few feet away from the window, she forced her feet to stay put but leaned forward so her hands could unlock the window. She looked like a banana with arms.

However, just as she was about to unlock the window, it opened itself. Flinching away, she almost jumped five feet in the air, resembling a kangaroo. Too bad her landing wasn't as graceful. She landed on her but, scrambling away from the window.

A figure climbed through and Y/N thought she was about to cry. Her eyes scanned the room, wildly, looking for anything to defend herself with. "What the hell are you doing on the floor?"

A breath Y/N didn't know she was holding escaped her once she recognized the voice. Her hands were still shaking and she was sure the adrenaline wouldn't leave for a while but Y/N couldn't bring herself to care. She was too occupied with wondering what the hell Percy Jackson was doing in her room. Especially since their last encounter ended just as badly as she had anticipated.

"Would you be quiet?" Y/N harshly whispered, and stood up. "Patrick is still sleeping. But why I am on the floor is none of your concern."

Y/N knew Percy enough to know he didn't believe her but she couldn't care less. Sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to her bed. Y/N had already had a big scare tonight, she didn't need anymore drama. Besides, who the hell climbed into someone's room at 3 in the morning. She was sure whatever Percy needed to discuss could wait until the morning. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No."

"Dead."

"What? No."

"Shh," Y/N finally turned around to face him, "Then what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"And it couldn't wait until the morning?"

"Obviously."

"Well, I think it can wait." Y/N gave him a sarcastic smile, she was so done with him. She had told him how she felt and he didn't even have the audacity to listen to her. Nemesis, she wasn't even surprised.

"Well, I don't think it can." Percy said and grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn towards him. It was the first time she had seen his face since last week and she didn't feel any remorse. Her eyes narrowed and her lips picked up into a sneer but he didn't even flinch.

Gods, she hated him.

Why couldn't he be like everyone else and leave her alone when she made it obvious that she didn't enjoy their company. Before she disliked him, she had enjoyed his persistence to be her friend. But now more than ever, she hated it.

She didn't want to have anything to do with him. Her plan had already failed and they would never be friends again. "Come on, revenge expert, you know how stubborn I am. Either we talk or I'm not leaving your room."

Staring at him like he was crazy-he was-for a few seconds, she looked around the cabin. Her siblings were still all sleeping soundly somehow and she really didn't want to wake anyone up. Nemesis, knew what they would do to her if anyone woke up. "Fine, but can we talk somewhere else?"

He cocked his head to the side and looked to be debating something inside his head before he finally shrugged. Leading the way, she had to pretend to know that she wasn't stumbling and stepping over random things gracefully. Pride can be a dangerous thing.

The nighttime air was surprisingly warm that night which Y/N was thankful for. The conversation would have been much, much worse if she had to stand outside with the looming thoughts of furies overhead while suffering through a very awkward conversation.

Nemesis, she was still debating if she should lie to him.

"Alright, Jackson. What did you need to discuss?"

"Why do you hate me?" Raising her eyebrows, she did her best to seem surprised at the question. Y/N knew had seen it coming after the discussion they had earlier that week but she still couldn't think of how to answer his question without giving the truth away.

Shuffling her feet and looking down, she avoided eye contact. She couldn't bare to look at him while she was talking-and she had to answer soon. Feeling her muscles tense up when she couldn't think of anything, she thought of the best excuse she could within a span of a few seconds. "Umm, I-Listen, Percy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, truly," she added when he gave her a look. "I just... I had gotten mad at something and I had taken it out on you. I'm so sorry. It was entirely unfair of me to get mad at you for something you hadn't even been apart of."

Biggest lie of the last millennia. Gods, she could practically feel her nose growing a few more inches.

Percy went silent for a few minutes. It only made her feel more nervous as time went on. He looked almost disappointed by what she had said, as if she were a child telling their parent that the cat had knocked over the glass vase and broke it-not them. "Rach told me everything."

Staring at him blankly, she tried to process what he had said. It was like her brain had been super glued and the only way for it to work was moving.

She froze then started moving all at once. Bumbling profusely, and moving to run away from him Percy caught her just in time and brought her to his chest.

"Leave me alone! Let me go!" She started to pound his chest and kick as much as she could but he only held onto her tighter. Sobs racked her chest but she felt as if a huge load had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. It was purely exhausting trying to fight him, but she didn't stop. "Let me go! I hate you!" But soon her shouts slurred together and her fighting slowed down.

She was just so tired.

Especially after she realized Percy was trying to comfort her. He had been rocking her back and forth while petting her hair. She felt oddly like a child.

Her breathing slowed down as she let herself sob into his chest and hug him back. "I hate you. I hate you so much."

Percy didn't say anything, he only started to rub her back.

-

A MONTH LATER

Y/N couldn't remember the last time her and Percy had talked but she was finding that she preferred it that way. They would occasionally bump into each other and it seemed Percy would want to say something, but Y/N would be too busy almost falling over air to try to get away from him to notice.

Rachel had tried to get them to mend their friendship, but Y/N was way too embarrassed to even look at him. She didn't understand, Rachel had never understood.

Sighing contentedly, she placed down her cards, "Sorry, Rach. Straight in diamonds. Read them and weep."

"What the hell?" Rachel whined throwing her hands up in the air, "How are you so good at cards?"

Y/N looked at her weirdly and scoffed, "I live year-round in a pro-longed Summer Camp with no technology. What do you think I do during the school year. Homework?"

"Don't be ridiculous. If I saw you actually work for something I think I would die of shock."

Gasping in mock outrage, she placed an offended hand to her chest, "I would say something witty if it weren't true. But I can't think of anything."

Rachel snorted and threw a pillow at Y/N, almost knocking her off the bed to the point where half of her body was hanging off. "Oh Gods, help me! I'm going to fall of the bed and die!"

Rachel started to laugh, "You can't even work when you are about to die, eh?"

"Shut the hell up, firetruck and help me get up!"

Rachel only tried to push her off more when the door opened and in came Butch Walker. The poor boy was more than confused but chose not to say anything, which Y/N was thankful for-especially when she fell on the floor.

"Hey," he paused once he grabbed his sweatshirt and was on his way out, "Do you wanna go to the bonfire with the rest of us? The Iris Cabin gets to roast marshmallows tonight and we could sneak you a s'more."

Y/N looked at a sniggering Rachel who nodded but laughed harder in return and Y/N grabbed the pillow and threw it at her. "Sure, Walker. We'll be out in a second. I need to grab a jacket and make sure Rachel gets out without falling over laughing."

Rachel stuck her tongue out at her friend while Butch laughed quietly, "Sure thing."

-

The air outside was way too chilly for Summer, a stark reminder that Fall was coming. The jacket she had grabbed was a zip-up hoodie, the kind that always seemed to stick out in the worst places and Rachel had plenty of fun poking at it.

Swatting her hand away for what seemed like the 20th time, Y/N bumped her hip, "Wanna go swimming tomorrow? I bought a new swimsuit at the Camp Store and it-"

"Does it actually fit this time?"

"Shut up," Y/N said and pushed her. The last swimsuit she had bought had been a little too small and the top had fallen off when she had jumped off the dock. It hadn't been as embarrassing as it seemed as no one else but Rachel had been in the water-thank the Gods. But Y/N still hasn't found the missing suit to this day.

Y/N had had a amazing retort in mind, but the words had lay forgotten once she saw the scene in front of her. Percy was being held up by a bunch of boys from the Hephaestus Cabin and shouting.

She had forgotten it was Friday. His team must have won Capture the Flag. She made a mental note to ask Patrick who had won and made a bee-line too the fire pit. Grabbing Rachel's hand so she wouldn't lose her in the crowd, she tried to get through the massive crowd of Campers. Nemesis, they smelled.

"Rach, do you see Butch?" Y/N stood on her tippy-toes to try to see over the heads of kids but she couldn't see a thing.

"Yeah, hold on," she said and ducked under an arm. Y/N was forced to follow and could only briefly apologize to the people she bumped into before she was pulled away.

"Y/N! Wait, Y/N!" Y/N turned around at the mention of her name to see Percy making his way towards her. Her eyes widened and she turned around quickly, passing a confused Rachel and now pulling her towards the Camp fire.

Fortunately, Percy hadn't caught up to them in time and Y/N made it to the fire in record time. She stole a roasted marshmallow from Butch, who looked mildly offended but only poked her with the stick.

"He never says anything, haven't you noticed?" Y/N asked and nodded towards Butch. Rachel only shrugged as she snagged a bar of chocolate and handed a piece to Y/N.

Feeling a poke behind her, she expected to see Butch but only saw a grinning Patrick. He quickly hugged his sister, something that he didn't normally do. Y/N raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything and hugged him back. His leg hadn't healed fully yet, Will had gave him crutches and a cast. The former not with him which was probably the reason as to why he was holding onto her. 

"What's up, little Y/N?" Rachel said with a grin that Patrick only shyly glanced away at. He had had a crush on Rachel since they had met. It was the most hilarious thing to watch, especially when he tried to show off.

"Y/N, I need to show you something."

"Now?"

"Yes, come on. Rachel can come." Nemesis, he didn't know how bad he had it. He had a bad habit of smiling every time he said her name or someone else did.

"Just follow the kid." She had a soft spot for him too.

Patrick lead her further into the crowd, it was only once they were in the very front did she see what was happening. Percy, and some other campers were up on the stage where Apollo kids usually led the camp songs.

Looking at Rachel, she wondered what the hell was going on when she remembered what the date was. It had been a full year since the war. Nemesis, she was surprised she hadn't noticed or that no one had said anything.

After a few more minutes of waiting, they finally got everyone's attention. "Hello, everyone!" Percy started by stepping forward, "As we all know, today is the anniversary of the Titan War."

After Percy spoke of the tragedies of the war and reminded everyone about the bravery of these very young kids, other campers spoke about those they lost which was followed by a few minutes of silence.

Y/N looked around to see the younger campers getting antsy and Y/N was proud to see Patrick condoling a younger one. "Thank you for those few moments of silence. Percy will now announce a new Camp Tradition we will start today so that we can forever be reminded of our fellow heroes."

Y/N started to blank out, it was getting harder and harder to concentrate with each word and she found her mind wandering about the most random stuff. It could be about what they were doing tomorrow, or if there were any marshmallows left, or how fun it would be to yell in a microphone.

However, she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard her name being called and people cheering. Y/N was pushed by Rachel and then she was walking up to the stage.

"Percy," she whispered once she was next to him, "What are you doing."

"Giving you the credit you deserve." he said and walked back up to the microphone, "Y/N is one of the most courageous, kindest, and skilled person I know. She has been at my side since the beginning. We found the lightning bolt, sailed the Sea of Monsters, held the sky together, survived the Labrinth, and fought in the Titan War." Y/N couldn't pay attention after that, she was too busy smiling. She felt warm all over as if someone had placed a blanket over her.

She couldn't stop smiling, even hours later and the campers were finishing up the Camp song. She felt Rachel nudge her side, but she didn't want to bask in Rachel's smugness. She needed to find Percy.

Snaking through the crowd, she found him sitting and talking to Grover on a bench. Percy didn't notice her presence until, Grover got up and bid his goodbyes. He had a knowing look on his face and Y/N wanted to laugh. She had missed him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Can I sit?" Percy nodded and drew something in the dirt with a stick that still had marshmallow goop on it.

"Thank you for what you did. It meant a lot."

"I meant it all. You deserved it and I'm sorry for not noticing it before."

"It's alright." Y/N said with a laugh, "Gods, this is awkward, isn't it?"

"You think?"

"I just, it's weird. I don't understand you at all. I told you I hated you and then you go and do this for me."

"But you had a legit reason to hate me."

"Ya, you're right." Y/N said bluntly making Percy laugh, "What do we do now?"

"Well, I want to try to be friends. If you'll have me?"

Y/N rolled her eyes, he was such a kelp head sometimes. "Of course, you sea slug. What did you think I was going to say?"

"Don't roll your eyes at me! You're incredibly confusing!"

Y/N scoffed, "You're one to talk."

"How am I confusing?"

"You're right. You're just completely oblivious."

Percy stuck his tongue out at her before scooting closer to her. It was weird having their things touch again, comforting but exhilarating at the same time.

Smiling goofily, she turned towards Percy. He had been trying out the yawn and reach trick but had been caught half-way through. His mouth was still in mid-yawn and his arm was just above her shoulder. It was hilarious how he stopped but then kept going as if she didn't notice.

Rolling her eyes but cuddling into him, she smiled. He could be such an idiot sometimes.


	4. Percy is a Boiled Egg (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING; Percy Jackson x Reader
> 
> REQUEST; To clarify ahead of time, Percy and Annabeth were never a thing- "Are you nervous, love?"- This is towards the end of the one-shot after Percy becomes praetor. Reader is intimidated by Percy and thinks he wouldn't want to be with her so she starts to avoid him. Percy ends up cornering her in her barracks (she's alone) and quickly has her pinned to the wall. Reader is nervous and Percy notices. He has a smug smirk on his face when he says the line above. Reader can't speak because she's shocked at what's happening. Percy chuckles before closing the gap in a very long overdue, heated kiss.
> 
> GODLY PARENT; Mars (reader is roman, ares in greek) 
> 
> DATE; May 19th, 2020
> 
> WORD COUNT; 6467
> 
> WARNING; keep in mind that reader curses using food terms so you're not confused, also, because this is based so much off the book, I already have a disclaimer at the introduction part, but I just feel like it needs another one. 
> 
> A/N; So, I basically wrote this whole thing in a day? Also, this is only part one because well, I needed to get something out and it's so long already. But I knew this request was going to be long so. It might be two parts, three parts, whatever. Anyway, this is not my best work but I like it. So... Also, I hope I didn't rush Percy's relationship with reader too much, especially considering they actually didn't introduce themselves. But here's the thing, I am probably going to go back and add in the war games part. (it will be in a flashback sort of thing though) I just kind of skipped over it because originally the one shot started after the war games but then I realized that the requester wanted some other things before that. So... 
> 
> TRAILER; in which reader is forced to tag along on the quest. 
> 
> REQUESTED BY; becca_unheart

Y/N was more pissed off than worried as she entered Camp Jupiter once again. It had been around two months of merely surviving on a quest, well, actually, two days of trying to complete the quest and the rest was just attempting to survive. 

Her and a group of other idiotic demigods, while sprinkling in a few amazons only led to trouble. Y/N should have known that when she accepted the quest to find Jason Grace, but all she found was that the Gods had miraculously decided to stop talking to them, of course, right after their beloved Praetor left. Oh, and the only way she knew how to kill monsters was now apparently not working, despite it have continued on for millennias. But you know priorities. 

"Come on, you pork chops," Y/N said as they crossed the Nile River, "I gotta give Renya the run down of the quest, and she's not gonna be happy. So I suggest you shower and get some sleep while you can." 

The campers nodded and went their own way, with a chorus of thanks between them. 

The walk to the Principa should have been calming, but Y/N was going to meet Renya at the Principa to tell her they had not found Jason Grace which was almost equivalent to a march of death. 

But it seemed marching to her death had been too monotonous because when she got there Renya was already there gliding across the floor like an eagle about to grab it's prey. It made her stumble of her panic, she had expected Renya to be out and about, it would give Y/N some time to think about how she could try and make the situation seem better. 

Fortunately, Hazel stood in front of Renya, along with a boy who looked around her age. Their time with Reyna would hopefully give her more time to think. It was odd seeing the two together, and Y/N wondered how the boy and Hazel had become acquaintances considering their age difference. Well, what she guessed was their age difference, they were facing Renya and the only thing she could point out was that he had dark hair and was tall. But boys don't usually grow until their late teens. 

It wasn't until that Argentum and Aurum nuzzled against her hands did she turn her attention back to Renya. 

Renya had never looked so relieved to see Y/N and it wavered her nerves for a second. But then her eyes flickered past Y/N and she saw no Jason Grace, and Y/N saw the corner of Renya's lips dip down again. "Y/N," Renya boomed, interrupting Hazel and causing both the boy and Hazel to look over at her, "It's about time you came home." Y/N opened her mouth to speak but Renya beat her to it, "We will discuss that matter later, as for now, there are more important things to discuss. Hazel take Percy outside, Y/N will join you both to Temple Hill and explain the legion. Good luck with the augury, Percy Jackson. If Octavian lets you live, perhaps we can compare notes... about your past." 

Hazel and the boy, Percy Jackson, walked past her. She gave Hazel a smile, and studied Percy. He was rather cute considering his filthiness, he looked exhausted but managed to get out of Renya's wrath without collapsing. Y/N should have been impressed but all she got was an odd feeling about him, as if he was an omen, a quick warning, but she couldn't tell if it was a good one or a bad one. 

The second they exited the Principa, Renya collasped in her chair, "No sign of Jason, then?" 

"Nothing," Y/N replied after some hesitation, "It doesn't make sense Renya. No clues, no nothing. None of the amazons have seen him, or Lupa. It's almost as if he disappeared in thin air. But the Gods aren't talking to us, and it either has something to do with the monsters not dying or Jason disappearing... maybe even both." 

Renya was quiet after her mini speech, but she didn't look shocked as if she had been expecting all of this but didn't want to admit it. Her silence made Y/N nervous. Holy Mars' chicken wings, Camp Jupiter just made her anxious in general. 

"I, um," Renya started and then cleared her throat. It was when Y/N took a step closer did she realize that her Praetor had been close to tears. Y/N didn't know what to do, in normal circumstances, she would go up and comfort Renya. But Renya wasn't just anyone, she was her Praetor and she didn't know the guidelines for this protocol. Plus, what was she supposed to say? I'm sorry that Jason disappeared right when you guys were going to become a couple, even though it's illegal and I am not supposed to know that but basically the entire camp knows. 

Fortunately, Renya calmed down during Y/N's mini panic attack and picked herself up, "Keep an eye on Percy Jackson, Y/N. There is... He is... I think he has something to do with Jason missing." 

Y/N raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. That boy that she just saw has something to do with Jason? What was Renya going on about? "That doesn't make sense." 

"He's lost his memory, Y/N." 

"And?" 

Renya hesitated before breathing out a sigh and gesturing for Y/N to come closer, "I've met him before. Back when I..." she trailed off and gave Y/N a look. Back when she had been working on Circe's Island. "Ya, before I became Praetor, I met him there. He's a Gracceus, Y/N. A son of Poseidon, a son of the big three, just like Jason." 

Y/N sat down her heart pounding in her ears as her mind fluttered around thousands and thousands of different possibilities. Was Percy dangerous? Had the Gods sent him here on purpose? What were they trying to pull? Was Jason okay? Where was he? Was there a Greek legion just like them? Were they trying to send them a warning by kidnapping Jason? 

"So, you're saying that Percy's Greek and-" Renya startled her by clapping a hand over her mouth, she hadn't even said it that loud!

"You have to be quiet about these things, Y/N. What if Octavian found out? Or worse, Percy." 

So, Percy doesn't know he is a Greek demigod, and Renya thinks that is worse than Octavian finding out and killing everyone. Makes sense, obviously. 

"Ya, priorities, right?" Y/N scoffed with a roll of her eyes once Renya took her hand off her mouth. "But explain to me what you know, so we are on the same page." 

"Percy Jackson is a son of Poseidon and Jason is a son of Jupiter. They are both one of the only known sons of the big three." What about Nico and Hazel, Y/N thought, but just as she was about to open her mouth to ask she closed it. Hades had always been shunned away, maybe his children didn't count? "Percy has no memory but somehow has survived for sixteen years despite the fact that he is a son of Neptune-sorry, Poseidon-and has no markings on his wrist and just recently visited Lupa. What if the Greek demigods never went extinct after the war?" 

The idea was so ridiculous that Y/N started to laugh. Her hysterical laughter was more like a panic attack, but Renya just sat her down. "There's no way Renya. No way. The Greeks went extinct after the war, they don't have their own legion. Percy probably just got really lucky and Jason may have gone looking for his sister, ya know? Remember the girl, Thalia, he used to always talk about." 

"But Mount Othrys, we wouldn't have been able to take down Kronos' black throne without-" 

"No," Y/N snapped at her, realization dawning on her like finding the answer to a previous question on a test after reading a new question. She got up before she would dive head first into Renya's conspiracy theories. "No, there's no way. There can't be." 

"Just think about it." 

"Why? To stress me out more?" 

"No, because what if Jason's there?" 

"And if Jason has no memory of us then we are absolutely, positively screwed." 

"What? Why?" 

"Renya, we do not have the resources right now for a war." 

"Who said they would attack us?" Renya snapped back, hurt by her friend disclosing her idea before it had really even started. 

"Well, we would. Who's to say they are any different?" 

"If Jason was there... I would never, could never," Renya rambled on, her arms wrapping around her stomach. For a few seconds Y/N felt guilty. She knew she would never be able to fight, hell, kill demigods. But she had to nip this bud before it bloomed. False hope never led to anything good. 

"I know, but Octavian would." Renya looked up as she said that, and before Renya could mention anything about Y/N running against Octavian for Praetor she left. 

\- 

"Who's Jason?" she heard Percy ask Hazel before they came into view. It was a nice day, the sun warmed her up nicely and she fought against the urge to just drop down on the grassy area and just sun bathe, maybe forget about life for a while. She probably would have if Jason wasn't brought up. 

Y/N and Jason had somewhat gotten along. She respected him and he respected her, but Jason had always been way too serious and had seemed to bring out a sobering part of her that Y/N hadn't even realized she had. 

Before Jason had decided to be a little sardine and disappear on everyone, life had been great. She had been working up the ranks and finally had been just about to become apart of the Senate when Jason decided that the fifth cohort needed a different centurion. Jason had left the day after she was appointed the second centurion of the fifth cohort, which according to Jason was an honor but Y/N never believed him. 

Besides that, Renya had been her best friend before he left. But now, she didn't know where they stood, not after that fight they had about Jason the day before he left. Y/N really didn't want to become centurion of the fifth cohort, they got the worst weapons, the worst bedding and bathing times. It had been more of an insult than a honor. But Renya had just mindlessly agreed with anything he said, like a lost puppy. It was ridiculous and Renya should have known that, but then he had to go and disappear, and now, Y/N regretted that fight more than ever. 

Her and Jason Grace weren't on the best terms at the moment but that didn't stop her from snapping at the boy who was causing even more problems. Why was it always boys? 

"No one," Y/N spat and started walking towards Temple Hill without checking to see if they were following. 

Instead of cowering away like most of the campers did, all Percy said was, "You remind me of someone." 

"Well, if they are anything like me then they must hate you a lot," Y/N growled and threw her hair up in a ponytail. It was knotted and greasy from lack of hygiene, but lack of hygiene had never been one of her top priorities on her quest, on any quest for that matter. 

"You remember someone?" Hazel asked, "Who?" Y/N had almost forgotten he had lost his memory. Losing memories isn't common in a demigod life, but concussions were. 

"My Mom," Percy said wistfully, then turned to Y/N, "She's not who you remind me of though. I don't know who that is." 

Y/N nodded and rolled her eyes, then why did he even mention his Mom, "Have you always had memories of your Mother?" 

"Ya, her names Sally and I remember some brief memories of when I was young but that's about it." 

"Have you had him checked for a concussion yet, Hazel?" Y/N asked. 

"No-" 

"Why does it even matter," Percy moped, "I'm going to die thanks to Octavian anyway." 

Y/N laughed, "Don't worry about him. Everyone is just stressed, no one is going to die." 

"Ya," Hazel added with a teasing smile, "Besides Octavian has a soft spot for Y/N. I think that's why Renya sent her with us." 

-

Y/N had just finished roll call when she saw Hazel skid into line. Fortunately, Dakota hadn't reached the end of his list of names and Hazel had made it just in time to squeak out, "Present!" The younger girl had nectar dripping off her fingertips and she had half a mind to go ask her if everything was okay before Octavian started. 

"Colors!" he shouted and the standard-bearers stepped forward. Each drenched in lion-skin and poles with each cohort's emblem. When her cohort presented their own pole, Y/N flinched from embarassment. The stupid eagle was still missing, and Y/N would be damned if entire career at the fifth cohort went by without finding it. 

Despite everyone snickering about the eagleless pole, Renya carried on, "Romans!" she called. "You've probably heard about the incursion today. Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson. Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him as a son of Neptune." 

Glancing up at Percy, she found herself shocked at his modesty. He had been led to Camp by a goddess, and not just any goddess, the queen of gods herself. Then, he managed to slash two gorgons, and merely raised his hand and said, "Hi." 

Something fishy was going on. She couldn't name one guy who wouldn't flaunt this feat, even Jason had been one to brag about taking down Kronos' throne during dinners. 

"He seeks to join the legion," Renya continued. "What do the auguries say?" 

"I have read the entrails," Octavian announced, his eyes were locked on her form and Y/N almost stumbled back in surprise. She hadn't been expecting him to be looking straight at her when he said that. Before Y/N could turn to Dakota and see if he had noticed anything odd about that encounter too, even though it probably wouldn't have done any good, Octavian remarked, "The auguries are favorable. He is qualified to serve." 

The campers all shouted, "Ave!" One kid in the third court screamed it so loud that Y/N stopped glaring holes into Octavian's head to look at him. Him and his friends had only snickered. 

Renya gestured for the centurions to come forward and with a sigh, Y/N took a few steps forward with a roll of her eyes. How was she supposed to take this seriously when she was stuck in the fifth cohort? 

It wasn't until Renya had glared at her did Y/N start to pay attention to what was going on. 

Percy shifted. "Letters? Um, no." 

Octavian smirked and wrinkled his nose. She noticed him glancing at her again and she scoffed, loudly. Octavian did a double take and it seemed that this had gotten the rest of the camper's attentions too because everyone was staring at her. 

"Do you have anything to say for the fifth cohort, Y/N?" Octavian asked, his smile widening when everyone started to laugh. 

Y/N glanced at Renya. She sighed and then looked at Percy, then sighed again, "I don't mean to interupt, Senior Centurion," Y/N mocked, Octavian's own eyes narrowing. If there was one thing in the world that Octavian wanted, it was to be Praetor. He wasn't yet and Y/N prayed to every God and Goddess there ever was that he would never become one. "But Juno did purposely lead Percy here, and if the Queen of Gods decides to take the time out of her day to bring Percy to us... Then, I mean, what better recommendation could you really want?" 

Octavian fumed when murmured agreements were heard throughout the cohorts. Y/N looked at Percy, who was looking back at her with a type of sincerity that made felt her stomach flutter. Her hand subconsciously made it's way to brush back some of her hair that was still wet from the baths, and she noticed her cheek felt warm from under her fingertips. She was just thankful that she couldn't blush. (or, if you can then, She was just hoping that everyone took her embarrassment from all the attention she had received in such a short amount of time.) 

"No letters," Octavian said regretfully and Y/N's mouth dropped open, appalled, "Will any legionnaires stand for him?" 

"I will!" She heard Frank from behind her, "He saved my life!" 

Almost immediately, there were shouts of protest from every cohort. Renya raised her hand for silence and glared daggers at Frank, "Frank Zhang, for the second time today, I remind you that you are on probatio. Your godly parent has not claimed you yet. You're not elgible to stand for another camper until you've earned your first stripe." 

But before anyone could open their mouth to stand for Percy, Hazel took over, "What Frank means is that Percy saved both our lives. I am a member of the legion. I will stand for Percy Jackson." 

However, other campers started to whisper between themselves again. Hazel was barely eligible. She had only gotten her first stripe a week or two ago, and her 'act of valor' had been more of an accident than anything. 

It seemed Renya realized that too because she looked at Y/N for help, and once again Y/N sighed. "I will stand for Perseus Jackson." Y/N said, quietening everyone down to silence. Twice that day Y/N had stood up for Percy, it was enough to make rumors circle around. "I am not only a full member of the legion, but also a centurion. Perseus Jackson will be in good hands, if you do not accept Hazel's then accept mine." 

Over the chaos that had ensued after he speech, she thought she heard Percy say, "It's Percy, not Perseus." But Y/N couldn't bring herself to care, especially when they had decided Y/N would be most eligible to stand for him. 

\- 

Her chest burned as she stared at the idiot in front of her. Dakota and Renya glanced at each other uneasily out of the corner of her eye but she paid them no attention, Mike Kahale was the only thing on her mind. He was rolling his eyes as if no one's lives mattered except for the legions.

"Come on, L/N," he said after no one dared to say anything, "Why don't you calm down? Have some of Dakota's pathetic kool-aid."

"Hey," Dakota remarked looking appalled, "Leave the kool-aid out of this!"

"It's bologna! Octavian obviously killed her!"

"I could do for a bologna cheese sandwich right now," Someone that sounded suspiciously like Percy said behind her. 

"Ya," Dakota remarked, "Y/N, your curse words always make me hungry."

Mike took another step towards her as if to try and intimidate Y/N. Her hand trembled beside her as she fought against the urge to punch him in the face. , "Don't make assumptions, L/N. You have no clue what you are talking about."

"Well, it's remarkable that the plium belongs to the first cohort, and Octavian had managed to lose his right before this happened," Y/N hissed as she turned to look at the man himself, "Did you drop it on the floor, or no let me guess. Did one of your stuffed bears hit Gwen with the plium?"

Octavian only stared at her silently, which only fueled her anger. How could he just stand there after he killed another camper? Shaking her head, she turned to Renya who looked to be on the verge of tears.

The sick feeling in her stomach worsened, and she felt as if she was about to throw up and scream at the same time.

She felt Mike brush against her as she walked over to Renya and whispered, "We all know you are upset just because I took your place in the senate and your place as centurion in the first cohort. How does it feel to step down to the fifth cohort, Y/N? I'm sure you are happy. Afterall, you are with your pathetic greek boyfriend." 

Y/N froze, how does Mike of all people know about Percy's potential past? Did he overhear Renya? Oh gods, does Octavian know? She is going to die because of her stupid decision to stand for the fish prince. 

"Well, are you?" 

Just as Y/N was about to tackle Mike to the ground she felt a grip on her hand. It was Percy, who looked just as shocked to be holding her hand as she did. He quickly removed it and rubbed his neck, "Uhh, Gwen, I think that's her name, ya, Gwen is alive." 

A flood of relief washed over her. But it didn't make sense, and soon the grief was back just as quick. Percy had to be wrong. She was dead, they had all seen her die. The medic had announced her dead. But all Y/N could manage was a, "What?" 

He nodded and Y/N looked over to see Gwen looking as if she had never been dead in the first place. Her mind raced, and suddenly Y/N felt dizzy, as if she had been the one dying. She will be, if what she thinks is true. 

"Who are you," Y/N hissed and grabbed his arm bringing him closer, "Who are you really?" 

Percy looked completely alarmed by her sudden closeness and he shook his head wildly, "I'd tell you if I knew, honest." 

She searched his eyes as if she would find the answers in there, but found none. They looked remarkably like the ocean, probably something to do with being the son of Neptune, or Poseidon, or... either one. Ugh, she was just so confused.

"Alright," Y/N said and took her grip off his arm, then reached for his hand instead to pull him away from the crowd,"I believe you, but I'm not sure everyone else will." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"It means," Y/N paused for a second to get her bearings as to where the crowd ended and started, "It means that strange things are happening, Percy. And you seem to be in the middle of it. People are going to want to blame you. You show up with a goddess on your back who talks about a prophecy, defeated gorgons single handedly, and you have no memory what so ever, but still managed to live to sixteen years old without coming to camp. Plus, you are a son of Neptune which is never a good thing." 

"Wait, wait," Percy said and stopped her from moving any further. But that meant they had to get very close to talk so no one else would hear. She couldn't really move to face him because of the amount of campers around, so it left Percy muttering in her ear. His breath felt so warm against her neck yet still managed to give her shivers, her hand throbbed from his contact, and she noticed he smelled distinctly of the ocean. It all somehow made her feel very calm and dizzy at the same time. 

Her heart pounded in her chest, and it such a strange and unfamiliar feeling yet Y/N managed to feel comfortable the whole time. What was he doing to her? Was it a part of his powers he had inherited from Poseidon? 

Y/N didn't think so, she had only felt like this when she was near Venus' children. Only this time it seemed to draw her in more and more until she would lose her train of thought. 

When Percy turned to her, she realized he had been speaking the entire time. She turned to face him (the kid that had been blocking her finally moved) but was met by a disgruntled Percy. He was looking far in the distance as if sensing something. Y/N wondered what he was doing, but she didn't have time to think about it. 

A thunderous voice rolled across the field: Death loses its hold. This is only the beginning. 

Campers drew weapons. Hannibal trumpeted nervously. Renya's pegasus reared, almost throwing her off. Percy's hand squeezed hers tighter, almost like an attempt to ground her, but Y/N barely registered it. The voice angered her more than she could comprehend. 

"I know that voice," Percy said. He didn't sound pleased. Y/N couldn't agree more, a visit from her Father was never a enjoyable experience. 

An explosion boomed throughout the camp, close enough for Y/N to feel it but far enough to not catch fire. Everyone scrambled backwards as a huge soldier stepped out from the flames. 

There stood Mars, weapons and all. Y/N only glared, but he didn't seem to notice her, he never had. 

As everyone stepped back, Y/N stepped forward and it was only until she felt Percy's hand yank her back that she realized what she had been doing. Maybe drawing her in was part of being a daughter of Ares. Whatever it was didn't matter because a second later Frank knelt in front of him. Y/N followed suit as many other people had started too. 

"That's good," Mars said. "Kneeling is good. it's been a long time since I've visited Camp Jupiter." 

Y/N noticed that her hand had slipped from Percy's. It didn't matter too much as they barely knew each other and Y/N felt more embarrassment than anything for holding his hand for that long. What bothered her the most was that Percy remained standing. He was the only one not kneeling. His sword was still in his other hand, and he glared at Mars. Y/N yanked on his shirt as if to try to remind him to kneel next to her. 

"You're Ares," Percy said. "What do you want?" 

Oh Gods, Y/N thought, of all the times to pick to be Greek he had to choose now? Why, oh why, did Renya choose her to take care of Percy? She was going to get blasted to bits and at the hands of her Father, it really couldn't get any worse. 

Y/N wanted to do something, maybe yank Percy down or say something to excuse him, but she didn't know what. 

However, instead the god grinned. 

"You've got spunk, demigod," he said. "Ares is my Greek form. But to these followers, to the children of Rome, I am Mars-patron of the empire, divine Father of Romulus and Remus." 

Y/N wanted to yell out, "You're my Father too! It would do you some good to remember that!" But she didn't. 

"We've met," Percy said. "We... we had a fight..." 

Y/N wanted to cry. She choose to risk her life to this idiot, who lacked the brains to not only pick a fight with her Father, but tempt fate to do it again? 

Instead of picking a fight, Mars, Ares, whatever, scratched his chin, as if trying to recall. "I fight a lot of people. But I assure you-you've never fought me as Mars. If you had, you'd be dead. Now, kneel, as befits a child of Rome, before you test my patience." 

Y/N felt herself start to nod and agree with her Father before she remembered that she was in charge of Percy. 

"Percy," she whispered, hastily taking hold of his shirt, "please." 

Percy glanced at her, then looked back at Ares. He clearly didn't like it, but he knelt next to her. 

"Romans, lend me your ears!" He bellowed with a laugh, "I've always wanted to say that. I come from Olympus with a message. Jupiter doesn't like us communicating directly with mortals, especially nowadays, but he has allowed this exception, as you Romans have always been my special people. I'm only permitted to speak for a few minutes so listen up." 

He pointed at Gwen. "That one should be dead, yet she's not. The monsters you fight no longer return to Tartarus when they are slain. Thanatos has been chained. The Doors of Death have been forced open and no one is policing them. Gaea allows our enemies to pour forth into the world of morals. Her sons the giants are mustering armies against you-armies that you will not be able to kill. You must find Thanatos and free him from the giants. Only he can reverse the tide." 

An unconscious smile made it's way onto her face. A quest? This would be the perfect time for her to show her true potential to the senate and maybe finally, finally join them and achieve her dream. 

Mars looked around as if in a trance, and realized everyone was still kneeling. "Oh you can get up now. Any questions?" 

Renya got up slowly, "Lord Mars, we are honored." 

"Beyond honored," said Octavian. "So far beyond honored-" 

"Well?" Mars snapped. 

"Well," Renya said, "People will stop dying, therefore Gwen returned?" 

"If left unchecked," Mars said with a nod, "even mortals will eventually find it impossible to die. Can you imagine a world in which no one died-ever?" 

Octavian raised his hand. "But, ah, mighty all-powerful Lord Mars, if we can't die, isn't that a good thing? If we can stay alive indefinitely-" 

Y/N snickered quietly, a world without Octavian was a good one. But then she realized what she had thought, and mentally smacked herself a few times. She would never with death upon anyone, not even Octavian and his creepy staring. 

"Don't be foolish, boy!" Mars bellowed. "Endless slaughter with no conclusion? Carnage without any point? Enemies that rise again and again and can never be killed? Is that what you want?" 

"You're the god of war," Percy spoke up. "Don't you want endless carnage?" 

Y/N's eyes widened and she almost wanted to smack Percy on the back of the head. Again, Y/N waited for the god to strike both of them down, but Mars just grinned like they were two old buddies talking trash. 

"Insolent, aren't you? Perhaps I have fought you before. I can understand why I'd want to kill you." Ya, Y/N could understand too. Absolute idiot. "I'm the god of Rome, child. I am the god of military might used for a righteous cause. I protect the legions. I am happy to crush my enemies underfoot, but I don't fight without a reason. I don't want war without end. You will discover this. You will serve me." 

"Not likely," Percy said. 

Y/N finally found he voice again and scoffed, "Did you not just hear anything he said before the last comment?" Percy turned towards her blankly, "Boys!" 

The god laughed, "But you know that it's not just boys, don't you, my daughter?" Y/N's breath hitched. She felt like all the blood in her body had seeped down to her feet. Her Father was talking to her. "I order a quest! You will go north and find Thanatos in the land beyond the gods. You will free him and thwart the plans of the giants. Beware Gaea! Beware her son, the eldest giant! Perhaps if the quest succeeds, and you return by the Feast of Fortuna.. perhaps then your honor will be restored. If you don't succeed, there won't be any camp left to return too. So my advice is: Don't fail." 

Percy moved to face her and she felt her hand go along with him before realizing she still had her grip on his shirt. She quickly let go, but Percy didn't seem to notice. He only muttered, "I still don't get what's so great about this feast for tuna." 

Y/N burst out laughing and quickly placed her hands over her mouth to stop her giggles. It had been so loud that even Mars turned towards her with a well placed brow but then turned towards Octavian again. "It's feast fortuna, Percy." 

"Ya, that's what I said." 

"No," Y/N said shaking her head and still laughing, "It's latin for... something. I forget. But the feast is not for tuna, specifically." 

"Oh," Percy nodded with a hint of a smile, "That would be cool, though." 

"Ya, it would be," Y/N said agreeing, even though she really didn't think having a feast for the worst kind of fish would not be very nice. Actually, catfish would be worse. 

Before she could voice her idea about catfish, campers started screaming and she realized that Ares was holding a grenade. Percy pulled Y/N behind him as if she hadn't been trained for this and he was grenade proof. 

She stepped around him with a roll of her eyes, Percy smiled sheepishly. Y/N just glared at him. 

"There!" Mars finished writing and threw a scroll at Octavian. When did he get a scroll? "A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on your floor, whatever." 

Octavian read the scroll. It seemed he was confused because he looked up at the scroll then to Mars and back again. Y/N wasn't suprised, Mars should have given him a stuffed bear, Octavian seems to understand that more. "This says, 'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die." 

"Yes," Mars said. "Is that not clear?" 

"Well, my lord... usually prophecies are unclear. They're wrapped in riddles. They rhyme, and..." 

Mars casually popped another grenade off his belt, "Yes?" 

"The prophecy is clear!" Octavian announced quickly, "A quest!" 

"Good answer. Thought I was gonna have to blast you, which would have been fun, but you like my daughter, so I have to give you that or Venus will- Nevermind." He tapped his chin. "Now, what else? There was something else... Oh, yes." 

Octavian turned bright red. He grabbed the scroll, and then turned around only to look at Y/N again. He sure was looking at her a lot, it was creepy. 

She had been so confused about Octavian's actions that she had barely noticed Frank finally get claimed by Ares. She smiled, Frank was her brother! He was a good kid, and an even better friend to Hazel. Y/N liked him. 

"My kid Frank Zhang is gonna lead the quest to free Thanatos, unless there are any objections?" 

Of course, no one said a word, but she saw Hazel look even more worried. "You can take two companions. Those are the rules. One of them needs to be this kid." He pointed at Percy, "He's gonna learn some respect for Mars on this trip, or die trying. As for the second, wait, isn't there one of this dumb rules where the legionnaires who stand for him have to make sure he doesn't die, or something? I don't really remember. Whatever. Who stands for Percy?" 

No, Y/N thought. Her legs turned wobbly. A sense of dread settled over her, worse than the day she had arrived at Camp for the very first time. 

She knew what was coming, but she couldn't stop it. She stepped forward against her will. 

Mars grinned, "Ahh, yes, my daughter. Nice job taking Kronos' throne, kid. I haven't seen that kind of bravery in a while. I remember mocking Jupiter about his son's job paling in comparison to mine. That was my kid, I said to him. Then, he got Senate instead of you. Who's Prateor?" 

Renya raised her hand. 

"You were there, weren't you? Unless, you were blind, that was an MVP play. You're not blind, are you?" 

Renya looked like she was trying to swallow a mouse. "No, Lord Mars." 

"Then make sure she gets her place on the Senate. If anyone has earned it, it's her. Not some cheap lousy job in the Fifth Cohort. We can't have Jupiter's stupid son stopping her potential because he's jealous, can we? Especially now that he's gone." he yelled at the legion, in case anyone hadn't heard which was impossible, she was pretty sure the entire world had heard. Y/N wanted to melt into the dirt and just die. He entire body trembled. She wasn't sure whether to be happy that he noticed her or die form embarrassment and mortification, that he was happy Jason was gone, all because of her. 

Mars seemed to realize his mistake too late because his image flickered. Lightning cracked across the sky. "Ugh, well, he's pissed. Whatever. Y/N can be the third, or the fourth. I don't care. You can add another companion because Y/N has to be there for the sea slug. Pick whomever you want. Have one of your senate debates. You all are good at those. Until next time, Romans! Do not disappoint me!" 

The second he was gone, Y/N felt an overwhelming amount of eyes on her. 

"Holy cucumber sandwich."


	5. Criminal Girl Relates to Garfield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PAIRING; High School AU! Percy Jackson x Reader
> 
> REQUEST; Not Applicable
> 
> GODLY PARENT; Not Applicable
> 
> DATE; June 12th, 2020 
> 
> WORD COUNT; 8053
> 
> WARNING; Bruh so freaking much. friends and families being dicks, panic attacks, crying and pubic humiliation, you're gonna read this and just keep cringing because of reader's dumb ass.
> 
> A/N; I think I like High School and Soulmate AUs too much. This isn't a soulmate AU. It was going to originally be but it just didn't match with the plot so I didn't. Still this is my first one and I had so much fun writing it. I think I just related to this reader more than normal. I think this is my favorite one shot to be honest. I'm so happy, I feel like I've fallen in love with writing again. The last few one shots I've just had the best time writing them and it's been difficult to stop writing. 
> 
> TRAILER; Reader is Percy Jackson's soulmate, potentially a criminal and more than kind of cute. 
> 
> REQUESTED BY; Not Applicable

Y/N was more than ready for this week to be over. It had started out horribly and only got worse as the days ran their course.

On Monday her Aunt's insane dog, that she had been forced to dog sit, had torn up her favorite shirt. On Tuesday she had forgotten her entire binder at home and received zeros on all of her assignments, and then one of her exams for being blamed for talking when it had really been the kid behind her. On Wednesday, Y/N was supposed to be presenting one of the most important projects of the entire semester in her first period only for her car refusing to start. Of course, when her Dad came home it ran perfectly. Thursday she had found out her position as President of the Economics Club had been handed over to some kid she didn't even know, despite how long she had been working for it. Friday, she had found out her best friend since kindergarten had lied to her face and was hanging out with a girl she loathed.

Her best friend ditching her had hurt her the most. It left an ugly slimy feeling in her chest that felt like some kid attempting to learn CPR for the first time, except she was the mannequin every time she thought of them hanging out together. Despite the chest compression, her self-depreciating thoughts never seemed to leave her. It was like she was trying to torture herself which didn't hurt any less.

To say the least, Y/N was completely drained. Blinking took way too much effort, and yawns seemed to be effortless. The kind of tired that took over after crying too much, so stress relieving that the tightness in her chest released, leaving her slap happy.

After grabbing two boxes of mac and cheese and a huge jug of orange juice, Y/N was on her way to her car. The bagger asked her if she needed any help carrying everything to her car.

She stared blankly at him for a few seconds before looking at her three items. He smiled sheepishly and Y/N felt fortunate to have been blessed with more brains than him.

It wasn't until she reached her car and caught sight of her reflection that she wondered if he had asked because she looked so miserable.

His so called thoughtfulness really didn't make her feel any better. In fact she felt worse. It was like when her Mother's wine group would come over and compare stories of who had been more disrespected. From grocers deciding they were age appropriate to buy wine without asking for an ID to being called Ma'am instead of Miss, Y/N had heard it all. Somehow it all had to do with old age and the grocery store. The wonders of Motherhood in the suburbs.

Placing her groceries on top of her car, she tried to unlatch the trunk. It wouldn't budge.

Hmm, Y/N was pretty sure she had left her it unlocked. Whatever. She wouldn't put it past herself if she had forgotten to lock it.

But when she tried to unlock it, nothing happened. Her car didn't beep or flash it's stupid lights, or anything. The battery in her key had been flickering on and off all week, it was the reason her car wouldn't start on Wednesday morning. But her Dad had said it had at least a few months of life left, not three days.

Her stomach dropped and she felt unshed tears build up in her eyes. Not now, not today. She had enough this week.

Her thumb hovered over the unlock button once more. Y/N almost didn't want to press it, because that would mean finding out her fate and she just wasn't that kind of girl.

She did it anyway. And the old piece of junk sat there like it was ready to retire to the car graveyard. Y/N wasn't ready for her freedom to retire so quickly.

Feeling her tears build up again, more rapidly this time, she dug the palm of her hand into her eyes and leaned against the car. Her throat tightened. She promised herself she wouldn't cry anymore today. She promised...

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," she whispered to herself, her voice to low to crack. Face screwed shut and her toes curled to will the tightness in her throat away.

The tears eventually made it through which only made her want to cry harder. She was so embarassed. Thoughts ran wild, making her panic harder to control.

How was she going to get home?

How was she going to pay for her car to be fixed?

She really didn't want to go back to walking.

Wouldn't her parents be mad?

What if this was one of those stupid kidnapping schemes that she had seen during a school assembly?

Don't be stupid. Calm down. Focus.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a lady with her dog, eye Y/N warily. A man sitting in his car with his feet propped up on the dashboard and a cigarette hanging between his finger laughed at her despair then ended up in a coughing fit. A woman ushered her child away, who was pointing at her, and gave Y/N a dirty look.

Y/N remained like that until her Mother's advice that she never took to heart rang through her, "Pick yourself up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Life isn't that hard."

She was right and Y/N wiped her tears away hurriedly.

As the knots in her stomach washed away, a new one settled it self in her chest. She was pissed. Furious at life for making her feel like shit, betrayed by her best friend, grades flustering down to nothing, and a position she worked harder than anything in the world for was snatched away before she could even think of savoring it.

It was just shit and completely unfair.

Wiping her tears, Y/N turned towards the driver's handle and pulled on it so hard, that her feet started to slip and she fell on her but.

She could have screamed, but instead she started to curse loudly and kick her car still laying down. She just about to kick the car for the sixth time when someone said behind her, "Uhh, hey, it would be really cool if you could stop trying to destroy my car? I don't know what he did to you, but at this point I think you're in danger of giving him PTSD."

Turning around, she noticed a blurry figure. Tears were still in her eyes making it hard for her to make out who it was but she could tell closing her eyes that he felt awkward. Hell, her guardian angel, no devil at this point, probably felt awkward.

When she blinked her tears away she saw him look suprised, and stumble back a few steps as if her presence shocked him. Which was stupid because unless there was some other person trying to break into the car, she didn't know why he was acting like she had come out of nowhere.

"This is my car, dude."

The teen scratched his neck, then pressed his car keys and suddenly the piece of junk came to life. She blinked hard, trying to comprehend what had just happened in front of her.

A flash of heat surged up her body that couldn't have came up from the exhaust pipe right next to her. She couldn't have been more aggravated and embarrassed. The guy seemed to realize that, because he shifted his weight to his side as he glanced at her. He was right, she was an idiot.

Quickly mumbling an apology, she ran off into the parking lot. Her car had to be around here somewhere and Y/N had never been more than ever determined to find it, or maybe just determined to get away from this situation as soon as possible.

She found it in the exact same spot, just a few rows away. Her brain kept replaying and replaying her embarrassing moment over and over again, leaving her to cringe and try to shoo it away.

If there was a list for the most embarrassing things Y/N had ever done, this would be on the top of the list. She could imagine herself years later, watching her husband struggling to change their kid's diaper as she laughed and talked about this. But right now all Y/N wanted to do was forget that she even existed.

It almost funny the amount of relief she felt just to have her car unlock. Her car, her piece of junk did it's little half-hearted beep, but it sounded rejuvenated as if it knew what she had gone through just for it.

She started the engine, and then let her forehead rest against the wheel in relief. At least that went well.

She was in the middle of her breather when a knock on her window startled her. Y/N took a few more seconds to herself before looking up and seeing the boy from before looking more awkward than when she he was before.

She rolled down the window, and right when he opened his mouth to speak the engine died.

"No," she whispered to herself, her stomach sinking, "No, no, no."

"Um, here's your groceries?" the boy said with a smile, but Y/N only opened the engine after getting out of her car. He stood there for a second before setting them inside the drivers seat and following her. He leaned over the hood and started to hack violently. The engine was fuming and Y/N wanted to cry for what seemed the millionth time that day. "Did you beat this one up too?"

She gave him a look but he only smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, it just slips out sometimes."

"It's okay... You're a boy."

The boy smiled. Did she just notice now? "Nice observation."

"Do you know anything about cars?"

"I know they aren't supposed to smell like that."

Pursing her lips, she rolled her eyes, "Thanks, so helpful."

"I try."

Letting out a laugh of disbelief, she leaned against the car and groaned. What was she going to do know? Even though breaking into the guys car was one of extremely embarrassing, she had been filled with a little bit of hope. The shitty day would end and she could go home. But now... There was no decent solution.

"Umm, would you want a ride in my car?" Y/N raised an eyebrow and he tried to hurriedly explain, "It's just I saw the sticker on your back window and we go to the same school. My Mom would kill me if I just left you here, so..."

-

The car ride home was so awkwardly silent, Y/N had even asked for his name.

"Percy Jackson," he said and flashed her a smile that she didn't return. She was too tired, and this guy was too happy. He probably shit out sunshine rays and Y/N just... was not about that life. Plus, his name sounded irkingly familiar, as if he had been in one of her previous classes.

"Nice to meet you," she said after a while, her imaginary Mother shaking her fist at the girl during that silent moment, "I'm Y/N L/N."

"Y/N," he repeated, and she almost looked for that feeling that all her friends talked about. The one where their stomachs churned pleasantly and it seemed that they don't even remember what happened before and after seeing him. All the memories from that day were separate. The life they knew before and after her friends met the one. But there was nothing, no shocking realization or fireworks. She could have just met Zeus himself and Y/N wouldn't be able to tell the difference. "Nice name."

"Thanks," she whispered quietly and played with the hem of her shoe. She had originally placed it on the dashboard but Percy sucked in a harsh breath and then the foot was back balancing on her thigh.

"Ya," and then it was awkward silence again.

Inside her mind, Y/N was cringing. This boy was nice, way too nice, and probably the most good looking kid she had ever seen. It was a wonder how she had never noticed him, or at the very least seen him around her school. Now, she had murdered his car, almost broke into it, screamed at him about her engine, and he decides to drive her home because well, she didn't know. It shouldn't matter because she was just repaying him by being awkward.

"Umm, why are you being so nice to me?"

What? God, why was she such a nerd? And an introvert. She needed to go out more.

"Uh," he said and glanced at her as she pointed to the left and he put his blinker on, "I don't know what you mean."

"I beat up your car, probably would have made the stupid alarm go off if you hadn't stopped me and then you follow me to give me my groceries that I had forgotten. My car doesn't start and you offer me a ride home even though you don't know my name." Y/N finished with a huff. Surprisingly, she felt better as if she had just finished crying and got it all off her chest.

"So?"

"So? It's not very high-school boy of you."

Percy laughed, "Well, I'll try harder to be more high school boy if you want."

"No, I like whatever you've got going on here," She said and waved her hand at him.

"Good. I don't feel like pulling over and dropping you off at a random street. Besides, Mom would be pissed at me. When I tell her what happened today, because I'm sorry but I have too. She's going to wonder what took me so long. But, umm," he paused for a second to collect his thoughts, "When I tell her what happened, she's gonna ask if I brought you home or not, and this way I won't have to lie."

He flashed another smile at her and she felt a slight tingle on her face that her friends talked about. But then again, maybe it was her nose going numb from the air conditioning. It was like this boy secretly lived in Alaska. "I'm a shit liar, by the way."

"Couldn't have guessed."

"What gave me away?"

Y/N stared at him for a second before laughing, "You said it."

He had the audacity to look embarrassed, yet please at the same time. "Well, you looked like you needed some cheering up."

Her laugh died from her eyes as the words sunk in. It was not the first time Percy put his foot in his mouth, sometimes he wished he could actually think before he would speak. He would try, but it's not socially acceptable at his age for long periods of silence in between conversations to take place so he can run over his words.

She huffed and crossed her arms, and it felt like Percy's insides were crushed between the space of her chest and twisted limbs. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. He gave her a gentle little thing that somewhat resembled the corner of his lips titling up.

Percy didn't know her at all, but she seemed like the girl that was disappointed with the world. Y/N was too pretty to be disappointed. Percy's Mom had always told him that the prettiest people in the world were dreamers, and the world never held up to their expectations.

Percy didn't really like that for Y/N.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, her face never wavering from the road ahead.

"Umm, what's your favorite animal?"

He took Y/N so off guard that she answered, "A cat."

"Why a cat?"

Y/N hesitated, who questions their favorite animal? "Umm, because I relate to them, I think."

"Why because you like lasagna and are scared of accordions?"

"I'm sorry, what?" He had her full attention now. She wasn't even trying to pretend to be mad at him. Her entire body, despite the restrictions of the seatbelt, was turned towards him.

"Have you never heard of Garfield?"

"Of course, I have." Y/N answered, "Who hasn't? But I thought Garfield was scared of scales and diets."

"He is. But he's also scared of accordions. I have to impress you with my extensive Garfield knowledge somehow right?" Y/N snickered, her fingers massaging her forehead. This boy was something else, she liked it.

"Well, do you relate to Garfield?" he asked a minute later.

Y/N laughed so hard that the back of her head hit the seat and she snorted, which only set her into another laughing fit. "I'm sorry," she said still giggling a little bit, "It's just who relates to Garfield?"

"A girl who tries to break into cars, I guess."

Y/N didn't think Percy had it in him to be so sarcastic. After spending a little under fifteen minutes with him, she had judged him as the boy who apologized despite doing nothing wrong and had fallen in love with his best friend but would never tell them. The boy who lived next door type.

He was sweet, and funny, and so incorrigibly cute that Y/N was shocked that she had been able to have a decent conversation with him.

So, she did what she did best with cute boys: pretend she wasn't attracted to them.

She shoved his arm even though he was driving, ignored him after with a fake pout, and even refused to say goodbye to him as she got out of the car. He had laughed at all of her antics and kept repeating his goodbyes over and over, getting louder and louder with each one.

After the door was shut, she snuck over to the window where the curtains were drawn and peeked through. He was still there, staring at the door. She watched him until he drove off.

A surreal giggle peeked through her, her smile seeming unable to wipe off. Her body thrummed with energy. For the first time in a while, her chest felt light and airy, as if drugged with hope.

-

The magical energy in the form of Percy Jackson had worn off by the time school started that Monday. She had gotten to school as late as possible that day, her stomach twisting and turning itself. The last thing Y/N wanted to do was see her best friend. Y/N had ignored her the entire weekend, all her calls and texts had gone ignored. Her own actions had almost been surprising to her, she had a knack for forgiving others who didn't deserve her mercy. Y/N supposed she had finally had enough.

Fortunately, she had gotten through the entire first half of the day without seeing her by ignoring her texts and calls, dodging her attempts at meeting Y/N at her own locker, and even purposely coming into Y/N's class with the excuse of office aid.

It was now lunchtime and Y/N was lucky enough to have her first meeting of the Environmental Club scheduled today. Her best friend would never even think of stepping in here, Y/N had too many good friends who would love to give her a good shove.

Even though she was thankful to have somewhere to hide from her friend, Y/N was anxious to enter the classroom. Her nerves felt fuzzy from toes to her hairline, which only made her more nervous. Y/N had a habit of stumbling over her words when she was nervous, and she did not need that today.

The meeting room was just an empty classroom with her biology teacher from freshman year eating a sandwich in the corner of the classroom. Y/N was almost 100% sure he was a biker version of Santa Claus. Sure, he was a lot less generous with his grades, but he looked exactly like the Santas at the mall just with tattoos and a tommy bahama shirt.

The turnout varied. There were the usual, Y/N, Triton the President of the club, this random freshman named Tyson, Grover and his girlfriend. That was about it. Sometimes it was just them. Other times, usually when there was pizza, a lot more people showed up.

Today was one of those days. A group of giggling freshman girls eyed Triton appreciatively, while a girl named Ella and Tyson went over notes in the corner. Grover smiled and waved from the pizza stand and Y/N grimaced but waved back.

Gods, this was going to be at the top of her list of embarrassing moments, right next to having a mental breakdown with Percy's car.

Triton started off the meeting with his usual greetings of putting Y/N in charge. He grinned down at her menacingly once he announced she would be taking over the rest of the meeting. She had never wanted to flip off someone so much that Y/N pressed her hand against her thigh and flipped him off secretly.

Triton moved off the stand and sat on his phone by Tyson and the freshman girls, they giggled and moved closer to him.

She rolled her eyes and smiled at everyone from the platform despite her trembling fingers and her tongue feeling as if it weighed tons.

Y/N tried to focus on the light from the windows lighting up dust like tiny stars and the way the crank from the air conditioning reminded her of boring days in this classroom where there wasn't the threatening future looming over her.

Triton expected her to announce her own failure. She wanted to cry.

Triton was the biggest asshole she had ever met. He had been held back so many times that no one truly knew how old he was, and nobody dared to ask. The one thing he somewhat cared about was this club. He had been President for the past how many years he had been here despite that he did nothing.

As it was her Senior year and Y/N had never worked so hard to keep a club going, she decided to run for President. It turned out that Triton was finally graduating but it never occurred to him that he would have to give up his position. Y/N had never seen him so mad in her life, and he decided to punish her for his graduation.

She took a breath and smiled at everyone. She could do this. "Hey guys. So thank you for coming today. Pizza will be served at the end of the meeting, as per usual." She said and leaned against the podium. Her voice was shaking but Y/N had to pretend she didn't realize for her own sanity. Looking more casual would hopefully calm her down. Maybe looking around the crowd would help. "Umm, today we are revealing next year's President which is really exciting-" As people started to clap, she choked on air, and suddenly she was stuck in a coughing fit struggling to catch a breath. Percy had been sitting in the back. They had made eye contact and then she had forgotten how to breathe.

Hands were on her back, and she was guided outside the classroom then sat down by the lockers. The feet left and she coughed some more but it died down. The tickle in her throat felt like someone was itching her throat with a feather. Y/N had to clear her throat multiple times to try to get it to go away but nothing worked. Her lungs burned as she filled them with air. She felt her hands shaking violently again and she leaned her head against the lockers.

She hadn't even gotten to the announcement part.

A water bottle was handed to her but she didn't move to open it. Pretty, tan hands did it instead, she watched them languidly.

"I think I have a knack for creating your breakdowns," Percy said with a smile. She looked up at him with her hand still against the locker. Her lips felt too heavy to give him a real smile, so she settled for a shuddering breath and closed her eyes. "I don't know about you, but sleeping in the hallways isn't really ideal."

Y/N snorted and her chest fluttered. She sat up then and took the water. Her throat was so parched it burned as the water went down.

"Ya, I'm not one for naps on floors that haven't been cleaned since the school opened either. Just when I start yacking so hard, you have to bring me outside."

Percy laughed and it was so contagious that she caught herself giggling with him.

"How's Garfield?"

"Garfield?" Y/N questioned.

"Ya, you know," Percy said and stuffed his hands into his hoodie. She wondered how often he did that. "Garfield, your car."

"What?" Y/N said laughing as she looked at him. He was already looking at him and Y/N hurriedly turned towards the lockers in front of her again. Yay, now she made things even more awkward. But Y/N couldn't help it, he really liked eye contact and Y/N didn't. End of story. "I've never named my car anything."

"I had a feeling. You don't seem the type, so I named him for you. Garfield in honor of your favorite animal."

Y/N hit him with the water bottle. If any other person had done this, then they probably would have remembered to put the cap on. It was too bad she was a world class idiot. However, to her horror, Y/N had only realized that would happen once it did.

"Shit, I'm so sorry." Y/N scrambled around for anything to dry the water with but all she found was a disgustingly dirty straw wrapper and a dried piece of gum. Y/N didn't know him that well, but she figured he wouldn't want to use that. She settled for using her own shirt instead.

Percy was laughing the entire time, and was pushing away her hands. It was like Percy was made just to embarrass her, as if baby bunnies were going to die everyday if she didn't embarrass herself every time he was around. "Y/N, Y/N," he repeated, grabbing her hands and placing them in his lap, "It's fine." She wouldn't look up at him and continued to look at their hands. He was so close to her that her focus had gone out the window. Her hands were abuzz and Y/N felt another coughing fit coming along.

It was just like her friends had explained. Oh god, it was exactly the same. Her tirade of a crush smashing Y/N with the weight of it.

"Y/N, I don't care honestly," her heart pounded in her throat and Y/N started to laugh nervously. She was screwed. "If anything it will just piss off Octavian which makes this even better." Percy said, mistaking her panic for spilling water on him. Gods, he probably thought she was a freak.

Fortunately, Grover came into the room. She had never been more thankful for him, Y/N had a feeling that if Percy spend anymore time this close to her she was going to either faint or have another coughing fit, maybe even both. "Come on, Percy. Triton just announced that you were President, he wants a little speech."

"Speech?"

Grover shrugged, "That's what he said. Although, I have a feeling that you could tell him that the world was dying and he would be crying tears of happiness."

He patted Y/N's head, and she tried to engrain this feeling into her brain. "You'll be fine right."

She nodded, and his hands left her. It was like a light switch had turned on and suddenly her brain started working again.

Y/N grabbed Percy's wrist before he left, "You're the President."

Percy nodded and Y/N muttered a little, "Oh," under her breath. She didn't know quite how to feel anymore. How had she not noticed before? It must have been why his name sounded so familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on where she had remembered him from.

Percy went to kneel next to her again, but Grover cleared his throat. He looked torn, and looked at Y/N then Grover and back again before leaving with a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shy away but wouldn't look at him either.

Just as they crossed the threshold Y/N heard Grover tell Percy that Y/N was supposed to be President. Her lip quivered, but she pressed them together. She could practically feel Percy's glance at her. She wanted to hit Grover in the back of the head and also wanted to run away. If she wasn't so emotionally drained she probably would have.

-

Y/N met her fate at the end of the third period. Her next class was a free period, fortunately. It gave her just enough time to wait in line for the food line.

"Hey, criminal girl," someone whispered into her ear. She just about jumped four feet.

She turned around to see Percy. Her chest hurt a little, and she wasn't sure it's from the scare or Percy giving her all of his attention. Y/N settled for both.

"Umm, hey," she said and eyed the two boys behind him. The pair looked almost identical, except for their different sized scars on their face, and the one on the left was taller. They were giggling like elementary school children and making suggestive faces at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Hoping to cut in line with you," Percy says, a plea in his voice.

Y/N meant in a general, in a what are you doing here talking to me? kind of way. If Y/N were Percy, she would have stayed as far away from his as possible. But then again, she knew that wasn't true. Percy could have told her he was half god and the son of the god of fish poop and Y/N would have swooned.

"What are you doing here?"

She gave him a look when he started to snicker, then marched past him and threw out her hand with a smile, "Y/N L/N."

Both boys looked shocked that she had started to talk to them and Y/N couldn't lie. She was just as surprised by her actions. Fortunately, they didn't seem to mind and kickstarted into action. The taller one of the left with a faded scar running down the side of his face said, "Luke Castellan. Nice to meet the girl Perseus hasn't stopped talking about for the last few days."

"Your name is Perseus?" Y/N asked a shit eating grin creeping up her face. Percy looked like he just found out Gaea was coming after him. She turned back to the Luke kid who had turned red from trying not to laugh, "I want to personally thank you for that information. It's priceless."

Percy grumbled.

"Hey Y/N," the other one said. She was surprised he knew who she was. Jason was less boisterous than the other two, but still just as mischievous. He had a a type of quiet confidence and grace to him that made her want to hang onto every word she gave him. Y/N also spent a day with him each month, trying to figure out the balance of money she could spend on the club. "So, you're the girl who tried to steal the piece of junk."

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed, "Leave Blackjack out of this!"

"Blackjack?" Y/N questioned.

"My car," Percy said softly to her then scratched his neck.

She laughed quietly, then studied the three boys. "Are you two related?" Y/N asked and pointed to Jason and Luke.

"Nah, I'm dating Jason's sister but Percy and Lightning Skull over here are cousins."

Y/N nodded, processing this information. How had she not seen Percy around? Jason Grace was the Senior Class President, she had to attend monthly meetings to go over the Environmental Club treasury.

A voice cut through their conversation, making Y/N look over Luke's shoulder to see who it was. Piper McClean, the TV anchor and Speech and Debate finalist was walking over with a smile. Her grin was directed at Jason, but just being in the crossfire felt like a gift.

It seemed Jason felt that way too because he suddenly straightened up and turned red in under 2.5 seconds. He walked away with a halfhearted gesture that could have passed as a wave goodbye.

Luke snickered then pointed towards the potential couple with his thumb, "I'm gonna go find Thals while the idiot is love sick."

The line had moved up while Y/N had been distracted, and she flashed a smile at her fellow seniors then ran up to join Percy. He was already forking out some money to pay for whatever food he wanted.

"They seem nice."

"Hmm," Percy said, not looking up from his wallet, "Oh, ya. I've known Jason since Summer and Luke for even longer."

"I thought you and Jason were cousins."

"We are," Percy said and smiled triumphantly when he found a ten dollar bill. She couldn't help but bask in her contentment. Her breaths were coming in deeper and easier. She felt like she had fallen into Sally from Spongebob's little bubble house, there were no threats to take away this short-lived happiness at the moment. "My Dad and my uncle don't get along. Besides, my Dad left when I was young. It wasn't until Jason came over the Summer after meeting at Summer camp and my Mom hugged him for longer than normal that she told us."

Y/N didn't know what to say. She was fortunate enough to have all her family members with her, it wasn't perfect and her parents seemed to really adore fighting. But something is better than nothing. "Shit," she paused, "I know we don't know each other too well, but I'm sorry, Percy."

Percy shrugged with a smile. His hands were buried deep into his hoodie. He looked like the main protagonist in some cheesy coming of age movie, where a cheerleader decides to scoop up the hot but oddball kid in her Shakespeare class. "I mean, you can't really miss something you never had."

Y/N tilted her head from side to side and considered his words, "I never thought of it that way."

"That's why I am known as a secret genius in these halls."

Y/N laughed, "Known? My ass." She was impressed with herself. Y/N hadn't embarrassed herself yet, and she even had introduced herself to one if his friends.

"No one's gonna know the new kid."

Now, that took Y/N by surprise, "You're new? That makes so much more sense." She leaned her head against her hand which was resting on the sill of the window as they finally reached the front of the line.

It was why she had never noticed him before, why Jason and Luke were hanging out together, why Percy knew Jason. It just all seemed to connect under seconds.

"Hey Rachel!" Y/N grinned, perking up from seeing her old friend. Rachel had been on her sports team freshman year. Y/N spent most of her time on the bench, still did, but Rachel had been there along with her so it was okay. She was a good friend and an even funnier person. Rachel had no licensee, which left Y/N's sophomore season screaming the entire way to their away games.

"Hi," she smiled and Y/N wanted to laugh. Rachel's smile was incredibly contagious, something about it being too mischievous to be anything good. "What can I get for you two?"

They ordered and Rachel nor Percy wouldn't let her pay. "It will make your payment easier for breaking into my car. Then you can drive me home and buy me lunch. Maybe even a little beating up the car sesh."

Y/N looked at Rachel wide eyed. Her heart picked up at the thought of spending time with him outside of school. "You never said anything about a repayal." She objected, and tried to swipe food from him.

He pivoted and held everything over his head, out of her reach. She crossed her arms and glared at him. His green eyes twinkled, and she marveled at how shockingly handsome he was. It truly wasn't fair. If she had his beauty, she would have used it to her advantage but then again, he probably does.

"Well, you kind of beat up my car, criminal girl. I was hoping for at least a thank you."

Y/N rolled her eyes. He had this way of backing her into her own corners. He turned his back and continued his purchase, shooting a victorious look over his shoulder as the receipt printed out.

Y/N stood alone by the cashier for a whiplashed moment. Jesus Christ. What the fuck was going on? She felt like she was meeting Percy over again. He acted so differently than when he was in the car.

It was like she'd been sucked into a tornado, tossed around, and then spit out alone in the front of the lunch line.

He threw away the cover at the trashcan and Y/N reluctantly walked up next to him, the condiments were right next to the trash can. He grinned at her and she struggled not to return it. "We're going to spend a lot more time together, so you're going to have to turn that frown upside down."

Y/N snickered and elbowed him. He grinned and leaned against the trash can. She eyed him and wrinkled her nose. So disgusting.

He quickly got off it, as if he hadn't realized what he was going. Percy brushed off the sleeve of his hoodie then smelled it. It only made Y/N laugh harder and shake her head. "What do you mean spend more time together?"

"Well, one you owe me," he said and shot her a look. The smirk on her face made her wary. "And the Environmental Club rulebook states that co-presidents have to spend loads of time together."

He was walking backwards and Y/N couldn't lie she was impressed until he stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. "Well, it's a good thing I'm not co-President then."

"What if I told you, you were." Percy said, studying her. Her head shot up so fast, her vision blurred. It was as if an airplane from the sky had just dropped a bunch of wooden skewers right on her. They didn't hurt her, she was more shocked than anything. "Grover told me what happened and I just thought it was entirely unfair what Triton did to you. And you're fun to be around so during my speech I said that you were co-president but couldn't come in cause you were still coughing. Everyone seemed to believe it, so."

Y/N was quiet. She had never been so touched in her life. Being everyone's second choice sucked, but Percy had just admitted he thought she was fun. For a lot of people it wouldn't seem like such a big deal but Y/N felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

"I mean, you don't have to do it, if you don't want to. I can always tell everyone it had been a mistake. You're just a cool person and stuff. I would have a better time being president if you were doing it with me."

"I'd love to, Percy."

"Really?" Percy looked up from where he was tracing the sidewalk with his shoe. She had never seen him so happy yet shy. Y/N bit her cheek to keep herself from smiling too big. She felt tingly all over, it was stupid but she liked it. It wasn't electricity like how her friends had said they felt with their boyfriends, Y/N had never been electrocuted so she didn't know how it felt. But somehow she knew that Percy was more than just tiny shocks.

-

They were assigned their first project together a week later. Co-Presidency was a lot more fun than she had thought. Percy had used the excuse of inviting Y/N over to his table for lunch to 'discuss tactics'. Y/N knew that wasn't what he meant but she didn't mention anything.

Her best friend had asked to speak to her when she was studying with Percy. It was more like Percy whining about how senior year was supposed to be easy and how his life was so hard, while Y/N asked him questions from her stack of flashcards.

But the second Percy saw the panic on her face, he had asked her politely if she could talk to Y/N later because he had a test next period and really needed the help.

Y/N had thought he was bad at lying.

Once she left, Percy had put an arm around her and brought Y/N closer to him. He whispered into her ear, "I got you, criminal girl."

She smiled at her lap, and risked a glance at him. He was staring at her as if she was some question on a test he couldn't figure out. He held her intimacy of being understood in his hands.

She leaned into him.

-

At the end of the day, Percy met Y/N by her car. Their cars were amongst the last few left, except for some of the athletic representation and staff. Her shoes squeak against the pavement, but he doesn't even flinch; he just smiles at her.

She knocks his hat down as a makeshift greeting and a way to distract him so she doesn't see her double-checking it is in fact her car. Y/N already made a fool of herself before, she didn't want to do it again.

Unfortunately, he notices because he snickers behind her and jabs her sides. Her heart leaps into her throat then drops down to her feet, like some rollercoaster ride. She has to lean against the car to calm her racing breath. He laughs even harder at that and grabs her keys from her purse before getting in the passenger seat.

Once Y/N feels confident enough that she won't have a stroke around him, she gets in the car. Percy already has plugged his phone into apple car play and is playing some dumb song from his playlist. She faintly recognizes it as some song from the Little Mermaid.

"I don't think I needed the keys to get in here, did I?"

Y/N laughs and starts it, fortunately Garfield doesn't stall, "Probably not." She is about to pull out when she remembers that Percy is still in her car. "Now, get out. I have to go home."

"To do what?"

Y/N huffs and feels embarrassment climbing up her spine like the slimy snake in Adam and Eve, encouraging her to make up some lie so she can look cooler. But unlike them she doesn't fall into that pit, "I dunno."

"Okay, so no plans for the rest of the night then."

Y/N gives him a look that lets him know he isn't even a quarter as casual as he thinks he is. Percy takes it in stride, since Y/N answers his question despite his glaring obviousness. "I mean the only thing I planned on was going home and finishing my book, unless someone has a better idea."

She hopes Percy supposes he's supposed to be that someone, but sadly, he hasn't thought this far ahead into the conversation. He fumbles, stammering out little nonsensical half-sentences, but Y/N is blissfully unbothered. "Don't we have to work on the project?" His head is leaning against the headrest and Y/N wonders how someone stuttering can look so casual, and composed, and pretty.

He lights up then, and Y/N smiles unconsciously. Her heart beats a bit faster when his eyes met her own. She doesn't look away, and she feels this pull. The rest of the world turns into white noise, non-existent and unimportant. Y/N wants to reach out and touch him, just feel his skin against her own. It's addicting and exhilarating. "Ya," his voice comes out deeper than normal, and he has to clear his throat before speaking again, but even then it comes out softer than normal. He's doing this thing with his eyes, it makes her stomach flutter. And even though she shouldn't, she wanted to kiss him. "That's a good idea."

They stared at each other unapologetically as they sat there. Her eyes traveled from his aqua green eyes that resembled the ocean so much that she felt a serene feeling wash over her, as if she had just taken a whiff of salt water. Then, she realized that it was just Percy. Something about knowing how he smelled made her heart pound. She wondered how he kissed, whether he liked to go fast or slow. She knew that with him it wouldn't matter to her. Her eyes moved down to his throat and watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. She saw the tilt of his lips and a flash of a dimple, the dip of his collarbone, the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing.

By the time she looked back up, neither of them moved, even though Percy had just admitted that he wanted to leave.

And then suddenly he was moving. He put his phone in the cup holder, and his fingers brushed against hers in a split second of what felt like life. Then he slid across the seat and slipped her cheeks into his warm hands, his fingers raked through the back of her hair, and Percy kissed Y/N.

He barely touched her. Just a light brushing of lips against hers, the slightest feel of his breath on her face.

It shot through her in milliseconds. Even though it was just a press of lips, her breathing was ragged.

His hands were still stuck in her hair, and he was still so close to her. It made her a little breathless.

They stayed there, just taking each other in, neither moving or breaking eye contact. He looked at her like it was work not to look at Y/N. It's silent until it's not.

"You know those people you just sort of... vibe with?" Percy whispered, his eyes closing as he leans his forehead against hers. Her breath shudders.

She was glad he asked the question before invading her personal space again, her focus always went out the window. "Vibe with?" She giggles a little at the choice of word.

But Percy doesn't, he looks at her with a kind of seriousness that silences her immediately. Then, she thinks about his question, really thinks about it. Y/N was familiar with it. There are some people that when you meet you just click with, their vibes just vibe with yours. Those are the people you want to keep in forever because at the end of the day, they are who you want to be and Percy is more herself than she is.

But instead of staying that she just nods, and their noses brush. His lips quirk up. "Well, you are that person for me, I think."

Y/N smiles, and plants one of him. When she peels herself away from him, he chases her lips and she lets him. Choosing instead to murmur against his, "You're that person for me too."


End file.
